


Aim & Shoot!

by Pinkmagirl



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Anxiety, Archery, Biphobia, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bullying, Depression, Don't Judge Me, Drama, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Falling In Love, Feelings Realization, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gay Keith (Voltron), Happy Ending, Having a Crush, High School, Homophobia, Hunk & Keith (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, I should be studying lmao, Insecure Lance (Voltron), James being a dick, Judo, Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Keith knowing James is a dick, Lance and Keith doing archery, Lance having a crush on Allura, M/M, Might Be Boring, Minor Violence, Mutual Pining, Protective Parents, Slow Burn, Teenage Drama, don't expect much, klangst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-10 03:10:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15940583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinkmagirl/pseuds/Pinkmagirl
Summary: "Okay, Kogane! now is my turn to protect you!"Joining a club, getting his license driver, getting a girlfriend –or two-, being elected as class president, going to all the parties that he could, and making his parents proud of him were initially Lance's only goals for that year. But now they all looked like a distant dream. However, in the moments we feel the most miserable there are always people ready to protect us. Lance knew he had that kind of people. His parents, his siblings, Sylvio and Nadia, Hunk and Pidge, and Keith. Wait, what? Why was Keith protecting him? And why was he ok with it? Why is Keith helping him to meet all his goals but in a twisted way? Does he have an ulterior motive? And why is it that his parents want to know more about Keith day after day?***Slow burn, for real, you have been warned. // High School AU. //





	1. Friends to the rescue

**Author's Note:**

> Hellooooo thanks for clicking in this fanfic! So, this is my first time writing a Klance fanfic, no no no, nevermind, this is my first time writing an English fanfic ;_; (Spanish is my first language). I'm weak for High School and College AU's don't ask me why because I don't know. This took me like 239483 years to publish because I re-re-re-read it thousands of time to check it was at least decent and if had sense -already doubts it- *insert tears*. Don't expect regular updates LOL
> 
> The moment I got the idea for this fanfic I got way too excited that I ended up elaborating a full diagram of all the events I more or least plan to happen (?). 
> 
> Edit: Keith and Lance meet till chapter 3. Because this fanfic is a slow burn. I warned you all.  
> Edit 2: Maybe I should have also warned that is not going to only be centered on Keith and Lance, there is going to be a lot of Hunk and Pidge, and some other supportive characters like Allura and Veronica, and Shiro and Adam. And of course James. He is the reason of all this mess >:( :)  
> 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance doesn't want to talk to anyone and tries to isolate himself whenever he can. But Hunk and Pidge try to find a way to help him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This first chapter is mostly about two worried dumb friends who don't know how to help his dumb friend. askcaskm I love Garrison trio way too much okay. The chapter's name is actually super cheesy end me. More characters and drama will be added in later chapters. (jk ~ idk akscmxlas).

 

“And Boom! Another clean shot! What’s the name? That’s right! Lance McClain! Repeat with me, baby!!” The tanned boy was already teasing the girl next to him as they walked down the empty halls.

“Ugh, I hate this game. It doesn’t even have good graphics, and it makes you even _more_ annoying, Lance” said Pidge, while staring her ship falling down, and the message **‘Loser’** afterward.

“Mr. Sharpshooter for you, _Mrs. Bad Loser_. You are the only one who doesn’t like it and I still don’t get why! Hunk seems to enjoy it every time we play together” Lance smirked, “He’s just one level behind me!”

Pidge rolled her eyes. Hunk used to not be into video games before, but ever since Lance started harassing him to play with them, the big boy started to like all the games Lance recommend to him. She couldn’t say (even if she wanted to) that Lance had a bad taste on video games because most of Lance's favorites were her favorites too, but that stupid game was really awful. It had many glitches, the ships had a weird design, it also had horrible colors, and that annoying sound Hunk confessed he liked because it relaxed him.

“Yeah, whatever, I’m not playing it anymore. Gotta delete it asap” said the girl while she pulled her phone away. However, she knew she wouldn’t. That was the third time that week she said the same thing.

She was bad at that stupid game and wanted to crash her phone every time she opened the app.  She couldn’t stand being bad at a game, especially if Lance was good at it. She was the game expert. However, somehow, deep inside her, she knew she didn't hate the game. She kinda liked it if she had to be honest with herself. And she wouldn’t admit it but the reason she -somehow- liked it was because of Lance. She liked it because that game had made Lance smiled a bit the last days. And she liked when Lance was smiling. Being able to see Lance smiling like that was more than enough to make her forget about that silly game. It made her believe that everything was ok again.

Ever since the incident of two weeks ago, Lance rarely smiled at anyone and she was starting to get worried about if Lance would be the same again. She was genuinely happy seeing Lance’s smile. She wanted the old Lance back. She also wanted to freeze that moment forever, or at least it to last, a little bit more. But all these thoughts were interrupted when she noticed the sudden change on Lance’s face and started to listen to the loud whispers around them.

“Here he comes! The biggest faggot!”

“Don’t get near him you know what he does.”

“Gonna infect you with aids do not touch him lmao.”

“Are you sure you are not just gay, McClain!”

“Loverboy my ass, more like a boys-lover bitch, hahaha.”

“Do you think he has already sucked Mr. Wimbleton dick?”

“Eww! Man stop being nasty”

“Jesy I still can’t believe you wanted to invite him to your birthday party hahaha”

“He can even have a girl next to him and won’t do a thing because he likes dick you know”

“Can ‘Pidge’ even be considered a girl?”

The whole hall was now full of people staring at them as if they were strange creatures. The bell had ringed that meant that classes were over, and they both hadn't noticed all the people outside their classrooms.  “Shit,” thought the girl, turning her head fast at the boy next to her. Lance, by her side, was now just staring at his phone’s black screen, pretending he didn’t listen to the other people with a straight face. Pidge knew he was trying not to care about what the crowd was saying even though she knew Lance did care a lot and that those bastards were being loud on purpose.

Then, Pidge turned her head and gave a death stare to the person who just doubted aloud her sexuality.

“I think I’m hurting some weak boy’s pride here by being manlier than them. Come on and say it to my face!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, which were louder than she thought, people stopped talking and turned their heads away from them, but some still gave them, from afar, weird stares. They continued walking for a while until Lance managed somehow to break the silence.

“I’m sorry Pidge” Lance whispered in a shaky voice.

“Sorry for what? For people being real assholes? That’s not your fault. They shouldn’t give a shit about your life, you know. Do you remember how they all treated you before? Fuck off. They are all so hypocrites, and I’m somehow glad we see their true selves now.”

“But still, I’m not sure I will be able to deal with all this pressure, you know? This whole situation is really driving me crazy. I already felt bad and guilty before, and now I'm really feeling worse. Right now, they just insulted you and I… I wasn’t able to stand up for you. I’m not even able to defend my friends” the blue-eyed guy said while bowing his head, this way the girl wouldn’t notice the tears in his eyes. Pidge sighed as she smiled.

“Hey, dude! You don’t need to stand up for me, I can do that by myself!” said as she patted his back “Do something about yourself first and then you can talk about defending me all you want! Remember you have Hunk and me, and we will listen to whatever you have to say to us. All these bunches of idiots will forget about that shit in less than two weeks. Don’t worry about it, be yourself as always.”

“I guess they will, huh” Lance was still feeling like shit, but the words Pidge just gave him made him feel a little better. He turned his head to the small girl next to him and gave a smile, a sad but sincere smile “Thanks for that Pidge” He was so grateful for having Pidge as his friend, especially now, more than ever.

The last two weeks had been the shittiest weeks ever. That semester had started the worst way possible. He seriously thought that this was going to be his year. He had all planned already. Finally joining a club, getting his license driver, getting a girlfriend –or two-, being elected as class president, going to all the parties that he could, and when he got the first place at the end of the year, and his parents were proud of him, he would tell them the truth about him. However, all these goals crushed on the first day. Just one day was enough to destroy the three years that were still ahead.

All the people he considered "close" turned their backs on him as soon as the truth was out and made fun of him every time they could. He realized the only true friends he had were Pidge and Hunk. Not James. He always thought of James as a friend. He was proud of having James as a friend. Who wouldn’t? James was smart, cool and popular. What he aimed to be. How wrong he was and he never realized. If only he hadn’t got close to James… He wanted to go back in time so he didn’t get into that mess. Many things could have been undone if he went to the past. He could avoid getting close to James for example. “Please let me go back” was Lance’s only thought.

“Hi guys, or should I say, _traitors_? Did you both skip Mr. Iverson class on purpose? He was so mad at me because you two were missing” Hunk suddenly appeared and interrupted Lance’s thoughts. He was so distracted that he didn’t notice his big friend coming almost crying from afar, neither he realized the moment Hunk handed him over a box of garlic knots with the message "Get well soon, my dude" over it.

“Nah, Lance wasn't feeling good after Chemistry, and I wanted to chat with Matt about a new code I’m working on; so we hung around.”

“Oh, ok, I see, so _traitors_. Next time make sure of not leaving me behind. I still can feel his piercing gaze going through me. He was like _“Oh Mr. Garrett, bring your lazy friends here right now, or they will both get a minus zero on my next exam”._ I seriously can't deal with all that kind of pressure again.”

“You are being overly dramatic, _chill down._ ” Pidge said while rolling her eyes “Mr. Iverson is just all talk, his tests are not that bad. Every time he threatened us with the _"You all going to get an F on the next test"_ I know is a lie. Thought it was going to be a more challenging class. I'm still disappointed. Friggin Matt, he did lie to me.”

“What are you talking about? His classes are like _hell_ , and his tests are the _worst._ Don't you remember last time?  The time that Lance and Matt helped me with the stupid exercise four. I still cry every time I remember. Hey dude, tell Pidge that Mr. Iverson and his tests both suck.”

“Mmmm.”

“Lance, are you listening?”

“Mmmm.”

“Lance?” Pidge and Hunk realized that Lance wasn’t paying attention to them. He was just there, walking next to them, totally absent-minded, staring into space. Both, Hunk and Pidge, exchanged looks.

“Hey Lance, Pidge has been lying to us all this time, she is a boy for real.”

“Mmmm.”

“Hey Lance, did you know that Hunk actually calls to Tito's restaurant every time we go to his house? And then he says he was the one making the food when in fact it was delivered at the back door?”

“HEY!”

“You asked for it”

“Mmmm.”

“My buddy? Hey Lance, are you coming with us today or what? Hey Lance! Earth to Lance!!” Lance finally reacted to his best friend's shouting by jumping all startled.

“Oh, I’m sorry dude. I didn't listen to what you were saying” Lance was still half absent-minded “Guys, I’m sorry I think I’ll call it for today. I’m going home, I need to sleep. I really feel tired.”

“Oh okay, that’s okay dude, get some sleep. Also remember, if you want to talk to someone, I’m all ears, you can text me or call to me, or whatever, I can even go to your house if you want to keep playing or me baking you more knots” said his best friend while patting his back.

“Same here! I can send you a list of actually good games, so you stop playing that lame game you both like.”

“Thanks, guys. I really appreciate all the things you are doing for me... it's just that I still need some time. I need to think about everything.  But I promise you that I'll talk to you when I am ready. Don't worry. See you later, guys” said Lance, as he walked fast leaving the other two alone. Lance was grateful for having Hunk and Pidge. He really was. And he wished he could open a little bit more to both of them. However, at that moment, he couldn't. Even if he knew that was getting toxic for him, he just wanted to be alone.

He slowly picked up his earphones from his backpack, plugged them on his phone, and searched the saddest song he could find, pressed play, and continue walking. He knew he shouldn’t have done that. He should have stayed and talked to Pidge and Hunk. They both were super worried about him. Now he was feeling shittier. “Tomorrow.” He thought. “Tomorrow, I’ll talk to them about this. I’ll fix everything again”.

 

***

 

“Hunk, we need to do something,” said Pidge as soon as they both were left alone “He isn’t getting any better, and I don’t think he will any time soon if we don’t do something.”

“Yeah but what exactly can we do? You just saw how he is acting right now it’s been like this ever since that stupid incident happened, he is not listening to us. How are we going to help him if he doesn’t accept our help?”

“But we can’t leave him alone. He is our best friend. There must be something we can do. He is always cheering us up, why is so hard to cheer him up?”

“Well, he doesn’t really want to talk about it, and you know we can’t force him to speak either, and I know this must be hard for him, but you know, it’s kinda frustrating, at this point I don’t know what to do, I wish he understand we are here for him.”

“Yeah, he gets worse and worse as each day pass by. He has to understand he hasn’t done anything wrong. “

“So, I was also thinking about what we could do to make him feel better. Since he wants to be alone all the time I don’t know if it will be a good idea to take him out or to have sleepovers, you know. Maybe he would be okay talking to someone who doesn’t really know about this whole thing? You know, like with a therapist or a psychologist. Would that be of help? I guess that could work, right? But definitely not the school psychologist, Mrs. Sullivan _totally sucks_. Maybe his parents could take him with a _real_ psychologist. Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait” Hunk’s face changed all of the sudden showing panic “Do his parents know about this?”

“His parents? I don’t know. Why are you ask---”

“OH NO MAN, HIS PARENTS. DO YOU THINK HIS PARENTS KNOW? LANCE TALKS TO THEM ABOUT EVERYTHING. WHAT IF THEY ARE CHANGING LANCE TO ANOTHER SCHOOL. MAYBE THAT’S WHY HE HASN’T TALKED TO US!! BECAUSE HE IS GETTING TRANSFERRED AND HE DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO SAY TO US!! Okay, Hunk calm down, breatheeeeeee. PIDGE, we can’t let that happen! I know he can overcome this whole situation. He has always been the strongest of the three. This situation is so ridiculous, to be honest. Why do people have to be so shitty? Maybe if we talk about this with his parents they will change their mind?!? Oh God, I don’t know what to do, you know, Lance has been my friend since we were like ten, six years of a solid friendship, do you know what that means right."

“Hunk jeez calm down also, that’s actually a good idea.”

“Which one? The psychologist one? Maybe my mom has a friend that knows one.”

“Not that one, I mean that could work _too_ , but not right now. I was referring to the one about talking with his parents. To be honest, I don't think Lance has mentioned any of this to his family."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, you were the one who told me about how hard was for Lance to convince his parents to study here."

"But do you think he still wants to study here?"

"I mean, we are talking about Lance. You know. Even if this school was hell, the fact that all his siblings graduated from here would be enough to make him come every day with a smile on his face. Also, Lance will bear with anything just so his parents will not worry about him.”

"Well, you are right on that one. That’s so Lance.”

“Yep. Lance our friend.”

"But talking to his parents wouldn't mean they will come here and try to fix it by themselves?"

"Well, that's going to depend on how we present them the problem. They don't need to know about _everything_ , just the _necessary_. We just need to tell them to talk to Lance, so Lance can finally come out to them. This way Lance will stop feeling so - _unnecessary_ \- guilty. Then Lance will feel confident with his parents' support and will give a shit about what these dicks think. And then we will have our friend back, downloading more shitty games to play.”

“Wow, you are really a genius Pidge that actually really sounds nice.”

Both of them were now sitting on the benches in front of the school. The big boy opened his lunch box, and picked up three cupcakes, handled one to the girl and started eating the other two at the same time. From where they were sitting down, they could read the panel school sign with the big unnecessary motto ‘ _Keep going until you reach the Glory’_. “Lame.” thought Pidge while enjoying the cupcake her friend just handed her.

 

***

 

"Uncle Lance!" A high-pitched voice screamed as soon as she listened to the front door opening. The little girl rushed to get as fast as she could to jump to his uncle's arms. Behind her, a second child was also running as fast as he could to join the hug.

"Uncle Lance!" Repeated the second child with a least high-pitched voice. "You are early again! Are you playing today with us?

Lance had a soft side with the child. He patted both heads with tenderness and thought about how nice it would be if he could stay at home with Nadia and Sylvio the whole day.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I don't think I'll be able to play with you guys today."

"Why not!" The little girl squealed "You promised yesterday that you'd play today with us"

"Yeah, but teachers at School are real demons you know. I have tons of homework for tomorrow and have to start doing it right now." Lance felt a bit bad for having to lie to his nephew and his niece. To be honest, he didn't even know if he had homework for the next day. He was absent-minded on all the classes he went that day, so he'll trust on his ability to write fast to copy Pidge's homework. He only wanted to be alone at that moment.

"Ok, Uncle Lance! But you still owe us 30 afternoons of playing there's no escape of them." Now the boy was the one talking.

"What? There's no way I'd escape from 30 afternoons of playing with you! Are you staying for dinner?"

"Nah, Papa is taking us to eat pizza. Do you want to come?"

"Oh, that's _tempting_ , but homework is _really_ long, I don't think I'm going to finish on time."

"Well, you can come with us the next time." Said now the little girl.

"Ok, deal!" Said, Lance, while he smiled at them. “Then, I will see you tomorrow guys!”

“Ok Uncle Lance! Play with us tomorrow” Said both children as they hugged him.

Lance loved those children with all his might and he really wished he could stop feeling like shit, just to be able to play around with them. But for the time being, he locked himself in his room and threw himself to the bed.

"Tomorrow will be better." He thought, "I'll talk to Pidge and Hunk. I'll get stronger. I'll play with Sylvio and Nadia. I'll help mom with the groceries. I'll do all my homework. Tomorrow will definitely be better." These were the thoughts Lance was having while lying on his bed. But then, tears started going out of his eyes. "Shit" he thought, "I don't want to cry. I'm going to be ok" But the more he thought about not crying, the more tears came out of his eyes. "Tomorrow" was the last thought Lance had before falling asleep.

 

***

 

"Oh, I almost forgot," said the little girl after eating her cupcake "Talking to Lance's mom and dad means we are not telling Lance about it."

"What? Why? That doesn't make sense?" Hunk's face was dumbfounded trying to understand what the girl just said. "Wouldn't it be better if Lance was there while we talk to them?"

"Nope"

"But why?"

"I mean, think about it Hunk. We want Lance to feel better, right? What will help Lance to feel better? Talk to his parents. What is Lance going to talk about with his parents? Well, Lance is going to tell them he maybe might not only be interested in girls. Why will Lance feel better after this? Because the opinion of his parents is the only one that matters to him. Do you know how awkward will be for us, outsiders, to be there, on a really intimate moment between parents and son?

"Ok, ok, I get it, I'm not that slow, jeez."

"Just making sure, you know." Said Pidge with a smirk on her face winking at him.

"Ok, so, we go to Lance's house, tell his parents 'Hello we are Hunk and Pidge and Lance is having a rough moment, please talk to him' but we never mention any of this to Lance, right?

"Yep! Not the introduction though, they have seen us more times than they could wish."

"Okay, cool. I'm down for it. But how are we going to do that? Like the method, you know. Ever since _that_ day, he goes straight home, so that means he is always home. So he will notice right away if we enter his house."

"Oh shit, you are right." Realized Pidge. “Mmmm”. She was giving her best to come up with the best ideas to talk to Lance’s parents. She was giving her best to find a way to help her friend.

Pidge knew that talking to Lance's parents was a good idea. She maybe had not been a friend of Lance her whole life, but she had learned fast how Lance's family worked. They were all supportive of each other and got each other backs all the time. That was why, in the beginning, she didn't understand why Lance hadn't confessed to his parents. But it hit her on Valentine's day.

A last-year boy gave another dude a box of chocolates, and the gossips and comments about it had been non-stop for at least two weeks, most of them related to how disgusting homosexuality was. She noticed how Lance was always wary not to raise suspicions. That whole situation had the poor guy with his nerves on edge. He was really self-conscious about other people's comments till the point he really believed he was disgusting, and even though she had already talked to Lance more than once, he didn't believe he was worth it. He was all the time afraid about his parents rejecting him. Therefore, the scenario in which he found himself at that moment was the worst he could have asked for.

Then she thought of the other issue. As Hunk said before the McClain family was against the idea of Lance going to 'Galaxy Garrison' the school they were in. Any average person who spent at least a day with Lance will notice right away how much he compares with his siblings. All his siblings had studied there. And his parents knew Lance will start to compared himself with them even more. Luis had been the captain of the rugby team and was the salutatorian of his class. Then there was Marco who got the gold medal of the best science project at the science fair the four years he studied there, with many honorific mentions at his graduation and a big group of friends he still hung out sometimes. Rachel didn't really stand out as the other two at High School but had been –somehow, because nobody on the family could explain this- the captain of the cheerleader team for two years. She also won a prize for one of her paintings at the School's fair, which she ended up selling at $5,000.00.

Finally yet maybe the most important for Lance. Veronica. Veronica was really something out of this world. She had been the valedictorian at her graduation ceremony. She got the highest grade ever on 'Galaxy Garrison'. Thanks to her skills as a natural leader, she had been the student council president for four years. Veronica was indeed Lance's role model to follow; he admired his sister so much that he could talk about her for hours.

Lance usually portrayed himself as a cocky and confident character full of himself, but in reality, Lance was really insecure about him and was comparing himself all the time with Luis, Marco, Rachel, and Veronica. And his parents knew this. Therefore, to avoid this they had already signed him up on Arus High School, which had a good reputation, and a swimming club, something that 'Galaxy Garrison' lacked and thought will be decisive for Lance. However, the boy couldn't care less about the swimming club at that time and still insisted a lot about going to 'Galaxy Garrison' until his parents surrendered.

If the McClain family realized that their baby boy was being harassed at school, they would immediately change him to any other place they felt was best for their child. That's why they had to be very careful with what they were going to say to Lance's parents.

Pidge was really immersed in her thoughts that forgot she was talking to Hunk in the first place.

 

"So--- have you thought about it? How are we going to talk to Lance's parents with Lance there all the time?"

"Oh, right, sorry. I was thinking."

"See, it's really hard to do it. How about we just send his parents a text ‘ _help your son, thanks’._ See, easy right”

"Stop. We are not sending a text. I know it’s hard but not impossible, there has to be a way."

“How about---” Hunk was getting an idea “How about we ask help from his siblings. I mean, his house is already super crowded all the time, which means no privacy at all which means everybody there is going to listen to what we are going to say anyway."

“Yeah, yeah, no that's actually a pretty bad idea. You know Hunk; we want to help Lance, not to create World War III. Telling his parents is one thing, but his siblings are another completely different issue. That would be chaos and you know that better than I do. You know how crazy his brothers are and don't let me get started with Veronica and Rachel. They would literally kill for Lance's sake. Siblings option totally denied.” Pidge crossed her arms as she said that “Also remember what day is tomorrow!”

"Tomorrow is Thursday?" Hunk pointed out. “Tomorrow is Thursday---” He gasped “THURSDAY!”

“Exactly!”

Thursday was the day with fewer people at Lance’s house. They knew this as a fact because every time they wanted to hang on Lance's house they went on Thursday, so they only shared the house with Lance's parents, Nadia, Sylvio, and the family's turtles.

"Ok so the house is clean tomorrow," said Hunk "ok, yes, we could go tomorrow. But again _, how_ do we do that. Give me the method almighty super nerd."

"If Lance had more friends this could be easier, dammit Lance," thought Pidge already getting frustrated, she felt she had been thinking about this problem the whole afternoon, and of course, she would feel tired. It was already 5:34 pm and she could already hear Hunk's stomach growling.

"How about---" Hunk started his sentence wavering "How about... WAIT! How about you go talk to them while I take Lance out to distract himself!!!!!!!!!!! I'M A GENIUS!"

"What the fuck, no" Pidge said as she slapped the back of his head "We are doing this together, so not escaping Hunk. Also, you know already how awkward I am with words. And let me tell you, you are the worst liar ever, just ten minutes with you alone and Lance will know the whole plan.

"You are really a _party pooper,_ Katie Holt." Said Hunk while pouting. "I had already planned my date with him. _The bff adventure_. Lance. Me. Donuts. Frozen. Some Arcade. Movies."

Pidge rolled her eyes as she listened to Hunk. She was trying to think of something as she said aloud "Lance does really need more friends, huh".

It was kind of sad knowing they were the only Lance's real friends, especially since Lance used to be surrounded by a lot of people. And at that moment, neither Pidge nor Hunk could remember those people's faces. Except for one. The one who caused all this mess. Pidge was already getting mad just by remembering it, so she tried to avoid thinking of that.

They both remained in silence for a while, as they stared at the sky. The clouds had different colors at that moment. Some were turning yellow other orange and pink. The sunset was really pretty. They could listen from where they were the band and choir practicing and on the other side, as contrasting, the soccer team game practice. About ten minutes had to pass until one of them broke the silence.

“OH! PIDGE I KNOW!” Shouted Hunk while jumping from his seat. “I know who can help us!” Said the big boy almost crying as he sat down again.

“What?”

“KEITH!”

“Who?”

"KEITH! You know, Keith Kogane! From Class A! The top student, dark hair, with eyes like blue-grey I don’t know, with Asiatic features. Always moody. Mr. Lone wolf. Teacher Shirogane’s favorite."

“Oh, I know him, but mmm.” How the hell did Hunk come to the conclusion that Keith could help them?

“What?”

"I don't know Hunk, isn't Keith the so-called Lance’s rival? I mean, do they even talk? I don't remember seeing them talking. Am I missing something? Isn't it more like Lance following him around waiting for the perfect moment to start a discussion with him? The same Keith?"

"No, no, no, no! Well actually yes. You are right, they are not that close. But you know! Keith is actually a super nice dude! He could be of help!"

"How? I don't see him wanting to get into other people's problems?"

"Oh!!!!!!!!! You are actually wrong there! Ok, so last time I lost my lunch and I had to go buy a new one in the cafeteria. And you know how much I hate that food because it makes me sick, right? Except for the Paninis. And there was this beautiful last Panini there which had my name written all over it. But then, the person in front of me asked for it. That person was Keith. So, you know I was kinda down because I really wanted that Panini. And then, I don't know how Keith noticed all of this and handed the Panini to me, but that's not all Pidge, I swear that after that he gave me a slight smile. So this is one of the 120 reasons why Keith is a nice dude."

“ _Of course this was going to be about food,_ ” Pidge thought while trying so hard not roll her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I can see this Keith guy is super nice and all, but how is he going to _help us_? I don’t understand" Pidge was not really seeing the relation between them and Kogane.

“Well--- Lance kinda likes him, right?”

“I guess??”

“And Keith is a member of the Archery Club--- You know it would be nice if Lance was busy with club’s activities, meeting new people--- and like, if Keith is on that club, Lance wouldn’t mind joining it.--”

"Hunk, you are losing the point. If Lance was a member of a club we wouldn't even be having this conversation, Hunk".

"---and Lance has good aim you know."

"Are you implying we take him to the Archery's club? I will reply for him. He will say no. He is fucking depressed, why he would want to join a club when he is depressed."

"Keith notices his surroundings more than you think---"

"Oh God, don't make that face."

Hunk just had an idea. A good idea according to him. He only had to convince Pidge to help him out.

"Pidge." Said the big boy while taking her by the shoulders "Pidge this is it! Lance will be a member of the Archery club!"

"I swear he has never touched an arrow in his life"

"Well there's always a first time for everybody"

"Oh God, Hunk what are you thinking?"

"We need to make Keith notice Lance's good aim; he will get interested and will try to recruit him, which will give us time to go to his house"

"What"

"Okay, okay, I'll explain step by step. We make Lance throw something, making sure that Keith sees it. I'm 99% sure Keith would go and tell the person in charge of the club since they don't have a coach, and do you know who the person in charge of Archery Club is? E X A C T L Y. Lance's second idol ever: Teacher Shirogane. Because there is only like two people on that club, he will try to recruit Lance making him stay after classes. And Lance won't be able to refuse because is teacher Shirogane. So then, we go to his house. We talk to his parents, get out of there, they talk at night with him, they have a good and healthy conversation with his little Lancey, and everything is fixed. The next morning Lance will feel better, probably as a new member of the Archery club, and after a while, he will be Lance again but better. That is the plan, best plan ever. BOOYAH BABY!” Said Hunk as he raised both of his arms up.

"I didn't understand half of what you said, Hunk. But I'm already so tired of thinking that I'll support whatever you just said now"

"THAT'S THE SPIRIT KATIE HOLT"

"I just hope I don't regret this tomorrow," She said rubbing her eyes.

"I promise you that you will not be disappointed, little nerd.” Said Hunk with a big smile of satisfaction on his face waiting for the next day to arrive already.

 

***

**Katie Holt** has created a group conversation.

 

 **Katie Holt** named the group **Lance’s friends**

 

**Katie Holt**

Hello V, it’s me, Katie Holt! (Pidge) **(19:52)**

 

**Veronica McClain**

Hi Katie! How are you doing? **(19:58)**

 

**Katie Holt**

I’m fine. How about you? **(19:59)**

 

**Veronica McClain**

I’m doing just great! I don’t know if my brother told you, but I got promoted at my job and now I’m going to be able to analyze a lot of data which will help me with my Ph.D. application! **(20:00)**

 

**Katie Holt**

Wow! That’s super cool! Congrats V! I think Matt would be interested in your research. **(20:05)**

 

**Veronica McClain**

Oh my! You are right! I forgot to tell little Matthew! Will tell him right now. I still can’t believe he graduated so fast! Sniff, why are you all growing up so fast! **(20:10)**

 

**Hunk Garrett**

Hello Veronica! I tried to cook the quesadillas from the recipe you gave me, but they didn’t turn out that well. **(20:10)**

 

**Katie Holt**

Hunk, stop talking about food here, this chat is not meant for that. **(20:11)**

 

**Veronica McClain**

Hahaha, Hunk, come here, and I will show you how to make them. Also, I wanted to ask, for what is this conversation for? **(20:13)**

 

**Hunk Garrett**

Oh you know, sometimes your little brother friends just want to socialize with you. This is that kind of situations. **(20:14)**

 

**Katie Holt**

We wanted to know if your parents were cool with us visiting tomorrow? **(20:15)**

 

**Veronica McClain**

Oh my! You are always welcome! Sure! But why are you asking me and not Lance? **(20:20)**

 

**Hunk Garrett**

Well, we want to prepare a surprise for Lance, you know, but we don’t want him to know about this. **(20:21)**

 

**Veronica McClain**

Surprise of what? His birthday was like one month ago already. **(20:22)**

 

**Hunk Garrett**

Yeah, it’s another kind of surprise that only parents can help with. **(20:24)**

 

**Veronica McClain**

Can’t you tell me what kind of a surprise is this? I can help you by giving you ideas if it’s a party related. **(20:25)**

 

**Katie Holt**

Nah, you spoil him too much and will ruin the surprise; parents option is always the best option. **(20:26)**

 

**Hunk Garrett**

Yeah nothing personal Veronica, I know how is it to be the older brother, I spoil my siblings too much too. **(20:26)**

 

**Veronica McClain**

Ok, ok, I get it, you might have a point, but the moment you feel I can help with this “surprise” let me know! I like to organize surprise parties for my siblings just so you know! **(20:28)**

 

**Katie Holt**

It’s okay Veronica, we will keep that in mind. **(20:30)**

 

**Veronica McClain**

I called my mom and told her you are turning up tomorrow and to not tell Lance. She said she is fine with it if you come by at 3:30 pm. **(20: 40)**

 

***

 

**Masterchef, Nerd**

 

**Nerd**

just so you know, I still think this plan is lame. **(20:40)**

 

**Masterchef**

Katie Hold relaxxxx. you never believe in me. Just BELIB. **(20:40)**

 

**Nerd**

I had the opportunity to take a nap and realized this plan is both dumb and childsihc. **(20:41)**

Childish* **(20:41)**

 

**Masterchef**

Ok two things 1. You need to believe in me more **(20:43)**

 

**Nerd**

lamest plan ever, I can’t believe we are doing it. **(20:43)**

 

**Masterchef**

2\. This is the best plan ever, trust me. **(20:43)**

 

**Nerd**

Why don’t we just tell V to take Lance out tomorrow for a while?? **(20:44)**

 

**Masterchef**

you nerd illiterate can’t read, huh? She just said she WORKS. **(20:45)**

 

**Nerd**

dfuck u are right, quizznak, grrr i hate you **(20:45)**

 

**Masterchef**

jUST BELIEVE **(20:46)**

 

**Nerd**

never **(20:47)**

 

***

 

**Lance’s friends**

**Katie Holt**

Thanks, V. **(20:45)**

 

**Hunk Garrett**

Veronica, don’t forget to teach me how to cook these quesadillas well, I feel there’s a secret ingredient you didn’t write down here. And if that’s true then this was a major scam. **(20:50)**

 

 ******Veronica McClain**

On my next free day, I’ll teach you the real way of cooking, Hunk! **(20:51)**

 

**Hunk Garrett**

Yeah! Kitchen Battle! I’m in! **(20:55)**

 

***

 

**Masterchef, Nerd**

**Nerd**

I just really wish Keith pays attention to Lance as much as you say he does. **(23:11)**

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this first chapter! I hope you liked it (or hate it LMAO). I'll try to update weekly but I don't promise anything. Tell me your thoughts about it too! ~~


	2. A change of routine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If someone else apart from Hunk and Pidge could see how talented Lance was, maybe Lance would finally start to see his own worth. Hunk was convinced that that person could be Keith.
> 
> If Keith could make at least one friend in High School, Shiro would feel a little more relieved. That's why he couldn't miss the opportunity to put Lance on the team after Keith showed some interest in him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! This chapter took longer than planned lmao I almost felt like dropping this. And even more after checking chapter one and realized some of the mistakes I had made -which I have already corrected- lmao. But what keeps me going are all the moments that I have planned for my favorite dorks so. Here we go.

 

" _Thursday_ " He opened his eyes and sighed deeply. " _Thursday_." He repeated on his mind as he turned off the alarm. If there was a day he didn't like was definitely Thursday. For Keith, Thursday was the most energy draining day of the week. Apart from being the day he had to eat two breakfast because Shiro couldn't cook at all, it was also the day they had dinner at Adam's house. With his family. They have been doing this for more than five years now (Shiro's idea of course) but Keith could never get used to Adam's family. Every time he was there he felt like a complete stranger. Adam was one of the coolest guys he had ever met, but his family was always judging his decisions, especially the one of Keith dropping judo. And of course they would judge this decision a lot, everybody on Adam's family practiced judo. It was their pride. That was how Adam and Shiro met each other. Of course, Shiro used to be a judoka too. Before the accident, of course.

He sighed again. It was too early to have this kind of thoughts. He got ready for his morning training and went out running. At 7 a.m. he was back home and took a fast shower. While he was dressing up, he could smell something burning. " _Oh God_ ," he thought. He walked downstairs as slow as he could. He wasn't really excited about breakfast. He reached the kitchen and saw Shiro getting something out from the oven. " _I'm not going to eat that_ " was his first thought.

 

"Good morning, Shiro".

"Oh, I didn't hear you coming down! Good morning Keith. Come on! Sit down. I feel quite confident with this one this time!" Said Shiro serving whatever it was on his red bowl "I think you are going to like it!"

 

Keith grumbled a bit. He had to admit that he wasn't really the best cooker either but at least his food was never burned and you could actually tell what you were about to eat. He couldn't understand how Shiro managed to burn all the food and not only that, to make it all look gross.

 

"Kill me, please," said the boy while sitting on the table.

"You haven't even tasted it yet! It doesn't taste like what it smells."

"Even worse, that way I would know at least what to expect."

"Keith, please, stop complaining about it, just be grateful for the food," said Shiro in a serious way.

"Thanks for the food... the last I'd ever eat."

"Do you have anything to do after school?" asked the older guy ignoring Keith's comments about his food.

"Oh, totally, I was invited to this party of the _JUDO_ club, also I'm helping this another classmate with his studying, and of course I'm going to the movies afterward." Keith tried a bite of the food served. It wasn't that bad, but it was still awful, which meant he had to buy later a second breakfast.

"Don't use that tone, Keith. You know irony is not allowed this early. I wanted to know because Adam and I will have to go the annuals’ party of his job, so you know, today we are not having dinner with his family, but still, I want you to be early at home. We will be done around 1 a.m."

 

As soon as Keith heard those last words his eyes brighten up. That was enough to make him happy for the rest of the day. He would get another breakfast later on and that would mean another average, boring, and lonely day in his life. Just what he wanted.

 

"Wow, Adam’s job really _sucks,_ who has a party on a Thursday night lmao. But oh well, can't be helped I guess” said the younger boy with a straight face but full of excitement inside.

"But you have to come home early, don't think that just because I'm out you are free to do whatever you want."

"Jeez Shiro, I'm almost 17, one more year and I'd be an adult already. I’m not a baby anymore.”

"Yeah, and that's what I'm the most afraid of, being 18 doesn't automatically make you an adult, and you definitely don't act like one."

"Shiro, it’s too early to have this conversation” Keith knew exactly the direction this all was taking and wanted to avoid it at all cost.

"You can’t avoid this topic forever, Keith; you can't shield yourself with excuses anymore. It’s time to grow up. Have you thought about it already? What do you want to be when you grow up? What do you want to do with your life?" There it was, Shiro’s favorite question. So predictable. He wanted so bad to joke about it. “ I want to be _dead,_ ” thought Keith while imagining a mad Shiro.

"I still don't know, jeez Shiro can we talk about this later? Like the next year".

 

Shiro sighed. Keith used to be the guy who knew exactly what he wanted. But ever since his accident where Shiro lost his right arm and the incident at Keith’s school happened, it seemed like there was a new Keith. A moody, insufferable and indecisive Keith. All of this made Shiro wondered if he had raised Keith in the correct way and if all his decisions had been the correct one. Were all teenagers like that? But he had not been like that, at all. On the other hand, he really couldn't compare himself with the boy. They had lived completely different situations. Still, Shiro couldn't stop feeling so insecure about it. He remembered how it looked in the beginning. He started to remember again the words that the judge told him 7 years ago " _a child raising a child_.” He did all the things he had learned from his grandad to raise Keith the same way as he was raised, but maybe he failed at something -or everything.

 

"Make sure to give it a thought soon, please." Finally, Shiro was able to recover to continue the conversation.

"Ok, but don't expect a lot."

 

Keith always put his walls up when the topic was related to two things: his parents and his future, even with Shiro who had taken care of him for long enough and who he felt the most comfortable with. Maybe if Keith had a friend the situation would get better. _A friend for Keith, huh._ That really sounded nice.

 

"Okay I have to go now," said Keith getting up from his chair.

"Make sure to come early!" said Shiro talking fast “I’ll talk home every hour to check you are here.”

"Yeah, yeah, man you are so pushy. I'm not a child anymore. You already know my stupid schedule. School. Archery. Home and homework. The tons of homework you give us," Keith said while taking his keys from the table, trying to escape from that conversation. “How about you take proper care of yourself first, Mr. Favorite Teacher, and get on time to school.”

 “Hey Keith!” said Shiro when Keith was on the door “Make sure to make a friend today!”

 

Keith didn’t answer. He just slammed the door as he walked fast. What did Shiro think he was? A child? He betted on it. Shiro was getting way too overprotective, ever since that stupid incident of three years ago. He was somehow tired of listening to the same speech every day. His future? Well, that was something Shiro really shouldn't worry about. On the other hand, if he wanted some friends, he would already have them. Being alone was easier and less stressful. There was no need for him to have friends.

 

Inside the house, Shiro just sighed. He was also tired of the same scene repeating day after day. Maybe he really was being overprotective. He couldn’t help it, he didn’t want Keith to suffer at all. He knew that Keith was almost an adult but in his eyes, Keith was still that child with big teary eyes and scared look from 7 years ago. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. When he opened his eyes, he looked at his prosthetic arm. Then he looked at the table. Keith had barely touched the food.  

 

***

 

Keith remembered how he used to love to ride on Shiro’s motorcycle when he was a child. And now, that he was almost an adult -and after a lot of begging to Shiro- he had his own. The _'little Red Hood'_ as he called it in secret. Shiny and fast, and most important, red. While getting over the motorcycle, he started to think about how he missed the way Shiro and he used to be. He was still close to Shiro, but things had definitely changed. And it was not only because of the times he was kinda unbearable nor the times Shiro was overprotective -which were almost all the time- it was about the way how they both saw each other in the present and how that had changed their relationship.

Apparently, in Keith's opinion, Shiro started to look at him as a baby because he was unable to control his emotions; and on his side, he had started to look at Shiro as a school counselor. Keith felt that this change in how they looked at each other had really affected their relationship in a deep way. But they never talked about that. Shiro was always too busy for that kind of stuff, and it wasn't like Keith wanted to bother Shiro with these silly thoughts he had.

" _Wow a lot has changed for real,_ " thought Keith as he remembered how they even used to commute together, but now both went their own ways. Maybe he did _indeed need a friend_ , someone who could give him advice about this. He wasn’t really good with words in general, so maybe a person good with words could be of help, someone already used to talk to their families, if only--- _oh no,_ not again. He started to ride the motorcycle trying to get away from all his thoughts. While going to school, he made one stop to get some decent food. That stop didn't take long and in less than 10 minutes he was already at the school parking lot, parking little Red. He looked at his phone's clock which struck 7:30.

Like every day, he was one hour early to school and that was his favorite moment of the day. He could finally breathe peace. Not a lot of people was early for their classes, so school was literally empty at that hour. Just what he wanted -and needed-. Finally some time alone. At home, Shiro and Adam were over him all the time, and at school, all his teachers (and Shiro, again) were over him. " _Today is going to be so good_ " he fantasized while looking out the window inside his classroom. " _Today_ ," he said with a little smile on his face.

 

***

 

"Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Pidgeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"

"I can't believe you are so enthusiastic this early. I feel so dead inside. I'm never again staying up late just to read your nonsense."

"Come on Pidge! Half of it was funny, also don't forget the plan."

 "Yeah, the plan is the nonsense I'm referring."

 

Hunk pretended to be shocked but he was actually having fun so he didn't really care. His plan was going to work so well that after it they both would be able to see Lance’s smile again. And the thought of seeing Lance happy made Hunk even happier. Both children were in front of Pidge's house waiting for Matt. Every day for the last 8 months, Matt gave them a ride in the morning so they could be early to school.

 

"Okay guys, are you ready?" Said Matt getting out of the house while putting his favorite jacket on.

"Yes, yes, yes,  hurry up snail!"

"Woooow! I see my buddy Hunk kinda in a hurry?"

 "Yes, I want to be at school right now!"

 "I want to be _dead_ right now," said Pidge, interrupting Matt and Hunk.

 “Pidge, pleeeeeeeeeeease!”

 "I see my little sister being annoyed so early" Matt was getting ready to tease her.

 "Hunk annoys me."

 "So it's that way?" said Matt with a silly smirk on his face.

 "Well, Pidge doesn't want to believe in me."

 "Your fights are like an old married-couple fight." Said Matt finally while chuckling. Pidge rolled her eyes.

 "Stop."

 "I'm just saying. Did you know mom and dad were like you two when they were younger," now Matt was laughing loudly.

 "Oh God, MATT!”

 

Matt loved teasing Pidge, it was so easy, and Hunk was easy to tease too. He lived for all the moments he could tease them two.

 

“Ok, let’s hurry up and get into the car, I don’t want my two favorite children to be late.”

 

After getting into the car Hunk totally forgot about what Pidge said to him the night before. “ _I know you would like to tell Matt about this stupid plan, but please don’t do it. He is really close to Veronica and to some teachers. So don’t. Avoid that topic at all cost._ ”, were her exact words before falling asleep. That's why the following words that escaped from Hunk’s mouth made her wanted to get off the car.

 

"Ok, but for real now Matt would you just trash out your friend’s plan and not giving them your support when it’s to help someone else?” 

"Katie did that?” Matt asked while looking in the rear-view mirror his sister. “Who do you want to help, huh?”

 

Pidge totally gave Hunk a death stare “ _Oh God, now we are doomed!_ ” she thought. Matt would definitely want to know what was this plan about. He was really really really really really really really persistent. And she was bad with words when she was nervous. And Hunk was the worst liar ever.

 

“Hunk. Stop. I already accepted your nonsense yesterday. We had already talked about it. There’s no need for Matt to know about this”. You could tell by her tone of voice that she was hiding something.

 

After these words Hunk realized he had made a mistake “Oh, yeah. you are right. Matt. Nothing happened.”

 

“What are you guys talking about?” Both children were now quiet looking at each other. “Hunk? ... Katie? What’s going on? What’s with those faces?” Matt knew his sister so well. He could tell when she was hiding something from him, and the face she was making right now meant she was hiding something big. “Hunk what is this plan about. Tell me now.”

 “I’m sorry, Pidge.”

 “It’s all good. Now, crucify us.” Pidge really wanted to leave the car.

 

***

 

That day the car ride had been eternal. Matt already knew about everything now. _Everything_. In the beginning, Pidge had decided to sit in the back seat of the car to avoid hearing Hunk and Matt’s conversation. But then Hunk forgot about the only important thing she told him the day before to not to say to Matt and now Hunk had exposed them.

 

“Ok, I think-- Mmm Pidge you haven’t said anything to him. At all?”

“No, I haven’t---”

 “Ok, so mmm--- Pidge and I have a friend who has been super down nowadays so---“

“A friend? Is this about Lance?” Yep. It was impossible for Matt not to notice immediately. He already knew Pidge only had two friends. Hunk and Lance. Who else could be the friend Hunk was trying to imply? Yeah. Nobody.

 “Oh, well---”

 “Wait a minute-- My buddy Lancey Lance is feeling down?? Why? What did you guys do to him?”

 “Oh well---”

 

Pidge and Hunk exchanged looks trying to figure out the best way to tell Matt what was going on. Was there even a way to tell him this without Matt making a big fuss? Pidge sighed and shrugged her arms.

 

“I don’t know, I think he is going to get mad--- just tell him already,” she said with a tired tone.

“Tell me what?” 

“Ok so---” Hunk didn’t know how to put it on words “You know about Lance---”

“Yes? Lance what?” Matt was only getting more and more confused.

“You know that thing he said at Christmas… about him liking both, girls and boys”.

“Yeah, what about that? Katie just because you are in the back seat doesn’t mean you don’t have to wear the belt. Put it on right now! Sorry, continue Hunk”.

“Ugh, fine” Pidge was starting to feel awkward with the conversation, she knew how dramatic Matt could get. And not only that. Matt had a lot of friends, and that list of friends included Lance’s siblings, especially Veronica, and some of the teachers at the school, especially Shiro, they both were like best friends. And Shiro was their homeroom teacher.

“Sooooooooooooooooooo, some people at school found out about it and some of them tease him with it and---”

“What???? Are you telling me that Lance is being bullied?” Matt was quite shocked that he almost hit the car in front of them by stepping on the accelerator instead of the brakes.

“I mean! It’s not that bad! I think??!” Hunk was trying to find the correct words but he was bad at making up stuff. He looked at Pidge to see her reaction. Pidge was just moving her head, from left to right, and from right to left.

 “What? How is that you don’t know? You just told me that he is feeling down! Katie was going on?”

 

Pidge sighed deeply. She knew she couldn’t hide things from Matt either, she was just wondering what would happen after it. Would Matt tell Veronica first? or Maybe Shiro?

 

“Yeah, some people at school tease him a lot, and he has been acting off these days.” Said Pidge while looking out the window.

“Why you didn’t tell me? Oh God. Katie why didn’t you tell me about this before!” Matt was concerned about it. Even though he had met the boy last year, he had heard about him for several years before meeting him thanks to Veronica and Marco. He knew how Lance felt about his insecurities, thanks to Pidge and only wanted the best for the boy.

“Because we didn’t know how serious it was till yesterday. And also it’s not like you could do something about it.” Pidge was using a rude tone of voice, but inside she was terrified of what could happen now that she saw Matt’s reaction.

“What are you talking about? Of course, I could do something! I’m an adult! That’s not even a good excuse! And still, you should have told me Pidge! This is not something to take it so lightly. How is that you didn’t notice before?”

“I mean, we have noticed since day one! It’s just that he is not letting us help and we thought that people will eventually forget about it… but yeah we noticed yesterday that wasn’t the case….”

“Oh God, do your teachers know about this?”

“NO,” both Hunk and Pidge screamed at the same time.

 “Please, Matt, don’t tell Shiro.” Pidge cried.

“What? Of course, I’m telling him, how am I supposed to be quiet when I know that a child is being bullied just because of his sexual preferences? AND IT’S LANCE! Katie! God. Wait, you are not being bullied either again, right?”

“Ughhhhhhh, of course not! And even if I was it's not like I care you know, I have nothing to prove to those losers. But you know that’s not Lance’s case. He worries about what people would or not say about him.”

“Still you should have told an adult, Katie this is not a problem child can take care of”

“Matt, listen, I know we can’t control what the dicks say about Lance, but we are trying our best to make him understand that he is not alone and that he has our support. What could an adult do to change his situation? We know we are not professionals, but Lance has to realize something by his own self. He has to notice he is worth it. I know this will maybe be easier with a psychologist and the shit---“

“Katie, language.”

“But, you know Lance’s family still doesn’t know about it and I don’t really want them to know about it this way, and also I don’t know how long it would take even with him going to a therapist. Lance feels insecure about it. And you and I know his family couldn’t care less if his boy just likes dudes or girls or both or whatever Lance likes, but Lance does mind about it because he still feels---” Pidge face was full of tears now. “He stills feels _disgusting_ and _worthless_ …” Those two words were the hardest for her to pronounce, because she knew that was exactly was Lance thought about his own self. “And telling a teacher will imply a citation with Lance’s parents and it’s just no. You know what would happen. And I don’t want them to take Lance away from us. You know what Lance means to me. You can’t take him away from me. Matt, please think about this. I don’t want Lance to feel more miserable. Let us help him our way and I promise you that if this doesn’t work out, then you can tell Shiro and even Veronica, and his parents.”

 

Matt sighed. He stopped the car and thought for a moment. Pidge was somewhat right. But he couldn’t overlook this. He knew Lance was insecure about his own sexuality, but he also knew his family couldn’t care less. But the boy still had a big complex. Apparently, from what he heard from Pidge, he had felt self-conscious about the topic ever since he was 13. Hunk was the first and only person that knew about it before Christmas when he told Pidge and him. He remembered it so well, the blue eyes full of tears, the shaky voice, the tons of ‘ _sorry_ ’ Lance said that night. God. That had been the only time he had seen Lance so vulnerable. But what to do.

 

Would his parents change him to another school? Veronica was the one who didn’t want Lance to study at Garrison, so having a reason like this would make them change him immediately. And he couldn’t do that to the boy, it was his dream graduating from there. And also he couldn’t take away Katie’s first friend. Lance helped Pidge on her worst time. Also, it’s not like he could do a lot. Even if he was friends with Lance, he was not a student at the Garrison. He was just an outsider who cared a lot about the boy. So, what to do?

 

The car was in silence now, Matt was thinking and Hunk and Pidge were just looking at each other worried. What if Matt told Shiro? Or worse, what if Matt told Veronica? They knew Matt could handle a secret. There had been almost nine months since he knew about Lance’s secret and never told Veronica, but the circumstances were now different.

 

“Ok, now I really need to know about this plan of yours. Don’t hide anything from me. I will decide if this plan is good or not and if you have to change anything.” Matt had already made his decision.

“Uh---” Hunk was really speechless.

“You need to promise you won’t tell Shiro or Veronica, or Lance” Pidge looked at him for the first time since the conversation had started.

“I need to know all the details. No more secrets, Katie.”

 

***

 

When they got off the car, both Hunk and Pidge were emotionally drained. That had been the longest ride of their lives. Two hours at the car with Matt, explaining everything. Pidge wanted to go back home and Hunk wasn’t sure about what just happened exactly.

 

“This is all your fault,” said Pidge as she went upstairs at the main entry. “You had to go and exposed us with Matt.”

“You know I am bad at keeping secrets P. You should have stopped me.” said Hunk looking around “But hey, at least now we have someone else’s support and approval. See my plan was actually a good idea”.

 

Pidge was kinda irritated because of the conversation they just had with Matt and the plan thing and the optimism Hunk had. She wanted to be that optimist but she couldn’t, so she put all her faith on Hunk and his plan.

 

Both their cell phone interrupted them by ringing at the same time, they had the same number of notifications, from the same person.

 

 **Lancelot at Golden Trio** guys I need to talk to you today could you please come to school early today I need to talk to you **(5:13).**

 **Lancelot at Golden Trio** wtf Guys, where you at? T^T **(8:39).**

 **Lancelot at Golden Trio** Are you coming today? **(8:55).**

 **Lancelot at Golden Trio** Next time you both decide not to come to school, tell me beforehand you traitors :guns: **(9:45).**

 

Pidge and Hunk looked at each other as they opened the chat to reply to their desperate friend.

 

***

 

**Golden Trio**

 

**Pidgey**

Sup we coming **(9:46)**

 

**Hunkry**

we are on the entry **(9:46)**

 

**Lancelot**

oH GOD THANK GOD YOU FINALLY REPLY hurry I'm about to have an anxiety attack THIS IS BAD FOR MY ANXIETY DON’T DO THIS AGAIN **(9:46)**

I'm panicking aksmas **(9:47)**

I'm in the classroom, why are you so late today **(9:47)**

you left me alone I swear ppl have been looking at me the whole day **(9:47)**

They are all judging me **(9:47)**

I was about to ditch all the classes lmaoooooo HELP **(9:47)**

 

**Pidgey**

We are late because of Hunk tbh **(9:48)**

 

**Hunkry**

it wasn’t me the one driving **(9:48)**

 

**Pidgey**

Well it was you the one who got the driver distracted **(9:48)**

 

**Lancelot**

gUYS I DON’T CARE JUAT COME HERE ALREADY **(9:49)**

Just* **(9:49)**

 

**Pidgey**

k (9:50)

 

**Hunkry**

On our way dude. **(9:51)**

 

***

 

It was lunch time, or like Hunk had called it on his plan _‘the zero hour’._

 

“Ok, Pidge, get ready on your position. I’m off” said Hunk running out from the classroom, leaving the girl alone.

 

Hunk rushed to find Keith in the classroom on the other side of the floor just in time when Keith was getting off the classroom.

 

“Hey, dude! Good that I found you!” Hunk said waving both his hands to the dark-haired boy.

“Oh? Hello? Mmm--- Hunk?” Keith was not really sure why a boy from a different classroom was trying to talk to him.

“Keith! Oh, so you know my name! Cool! Okay so, this might be out of nowhere but, I wanted to ask you something. Could you please come to the baseball field at 12:30?” Hunk asked talking really fast.

“Oh? Ok? What for?” Keith was so confused, why was Hunk talking to him? They almost never interact, except for those times where Hunk was with his friend, the one who was always trying to pick a fight with him. He looked around trying to find the dark-skin blue-eyed boy, but he didn’t see him. So Hunk was alone there? _Weird._ Where was Hunk’s friend?

“Oh, I just need you to watch something, I thought you’d like to have a new member on the team. 12:30. Don’t forget. Be super punctual! See you there!” said Hunk while running off again, leaving a confused Keith behind.

 

What had that been? A new member on the team? Was Hunk talking about the Archery club? But if that was the case it didn’t make sense, right? The archery club didn’t really need more members, they were fine as how it was. Three members were already more than enough.  Was Hunk trying to introduce to him a new potential member? Well, whatever he couldn’t refuse to the big boy because he was a nice dude, and also Shiro had already been pestering him to get more members. Archery club did indeed need more members. Blah whatever. Keith was now curious about the person Hunk would introduce to him. As he thought that, he looked again behind him. Hunk really went alone to talk to him---- _weird._

 

***

 

On the other side of the baseball field, there was Pidge talking with an upper-class girl.

 

“Please Nyma, just this once.” 

“Oh Pidge, but you already know the rules, and even if I do it, Rolo will be mad at me.”

“Doesn’t matter, I’d talk to him later, pleeeease? You are the only person I can ask this.” 

“Oh Pidge--- Ok I’ll do it, but you owe me 5 more physics homework and you need to help me with Matt’s birthday gift!” 

“Mmmm okay, deal!” 

“Yay! Thanks, Pidge! And don’t forget to talk to Rolo afterward, he really really really really doesn’t like when the practice gets interrupted.” 

“Don’t you worry, just make sure to throw that ball I gave you to our direction.”

 

***

 

**Masterchef, Nerd**

 

**Nerd**

ok loser I have talked to Nyma **(12:10)**

she said she gonna help us **(12:10)**

 

**Masterchef**

ok **(12:12)**

I just talked to Keith **(12:12)**

he will help too **(12:12)**

 

**Nerd**

-_- idk what you said to him **(12:12)**

but I bet he is confused af **(12:12)**

and i’m pretty sure he didn’t say he will help u **(12:12)**

 

**Masterchef**

no **(12:13)**

where is lance? **(12:13)**

 

**Nerd**

mmm with you? **(12:13)**

 

**Masterchef**

what? he was with you when i left the classroom **(12:13)**

where did you leave acne? **(12:13)**

he gonna hate us **(12:13)**

Lance* **(12:13)**

we left him alone twice already **(12:13)**

 

**Nerd**

acne XDDDDD **(12:13)**

ooopssss XDDDD **(12:13)**

 

***

 

**Golden Trio**

 

**Lancelot**

fuck guys where you at **(12:06)**

First, you came late **(12:07)**

and now you leave me alone **(12:07)**

again **(12:07)**

hello?? **(12:13)**

 

**Pidgey**

Come to the baseball field **(12:13)**

pla **(12:13)**

pls **(12:13)**

 

**Lancelot**

wtf why u there **(12:14)**

 

**Hunkry**

I’m here 2  **(12:14)**

 

**Lancelot**

wtf i was already here at the library! **(12:14)**

… **(12:15)**

oK, FINE I’m going too **(12:14)**

 

***

 

“Where were you guys! Don’t leave me alone. I get too anxious.” Lance rushed his way to the baseball field. That place was so far away from the main building where he was waiting for them. It took him around 10 minutes to get there.

“Ok, sorry”

“Yeah sorry buddy, I was asking something in the teacher’s room and Pidge tagged along.”

“Okay, cool but why are we here? I don’t really feel comfortable with all these people around.”

“Oh, Lance it’s ok buddy, we will not leave you alone”.

“Yeah, also baseball is not really popular here. So their practices games are always almost empty. Look around. Just like 6 more people.”

“Ok, I guess so--- but really don’t leave me alone, anymore. Also, Why are we here again you said?” Lance asked again looking at their surroundings.

“Well, Nyma’s game is next week and Matt asked me to go and take pictures of her training.”

“I always wanted to ask something, are they going out or?” Hunk said while giving the two of them sandwiches. Chicken with mushrooms for Pidge and meat with broccoli for Lance.

“Yeah they are best friends forever, you know how Matt still feels awkward liking a girl 4 year younger than him”.

“Well, he shouldn’t really mind because they have known each other since like forever?”

“You know how Matt is. Once, he tried to convince himself that Nyma and he were just like siblings and Nyma went so mad that even tried to flirt with this other guy and Matt was so jealous. They made a stupid contract afterward. Lance sign it. He is their witness. It’s something about them both waiting for the right moment or something like that. So for the moment, they are just ‘ _friends’_ that love each other so much but won’t kiss and that stuff.”

 

Lance was not really paying attention to what Pidge was saying because he already knew all of it. He now had other things in mind. He was feeling so anxious that day but he still wanted to talk to Hunk and Pidge. He wanted to tell them how he felt. He wanted to ask for help. He was ready to let all the bad thoughts go. He was ready to feel good. But now they were on the baseball field. It wasn’t that bad. The baseball team had a lot of cute girls. But that was not the point. He wanted some privacy to talk to his friends.

 

“Ok, so what did you want to talk about,” asked Hunk looking around after he noticed how uncomfortable Lance was.

“Oh. Mmm you know I’d rather say it on private, where there are not many people around.” Lance said looking at the ground.

“What? Why? Did something happened?” Hunk turned to look at his friend. 

“Nothing, nothing, the usual but I wanted to say something to you guys.”

 

Hunk was feeling bad because he wanted to listen to what Lance had to say, but at the same time, the plan was still going on. He felt even guiltier when he started to look around searching for Keith. Five more minutes and it would be 12:30. Hunk knew Keith was never late. So he was starting to wonder if Keith would come for real. Maybe Keith thought he was messing with him?

 

“Hey Hunk I gave the instructions to Nyma already, and if it’s not now it’s never,” whispered Pidge on his other ear “We can’t wait for him forever. Also, this is Keith who we are talking about. Maybe he didn’t even care.”

“No, I know he will come. Just wait till the hour assigned. Five more minutes  Pidgy”.

“Ok. But only five”.

“Cool, that’s more than enough.”

 

***

 

Keith was now mad. Some kiddos retained him long enough because they wanted to start a stupid fight with him and now he was late to whatever Hunk wanted to show him. A new member it was? Keith hated being late. And now he was late.

He really was curious about who Hunk felt belonged to the Archery club. He remembered the last year when he tried to recruit some people because of Shiro, but he only got one person, who had already graduated. And this year was not the exception, the other two members apart from him were in their last year. Maybe it was actually a good idea to try to get someone else, even if he didn’t really want to.

“ _Fuck_ ” Keith had looked the hour on his phone. It was already 12:30, he wouldn’t make it. Classes started again at 12:45, and from where he was to the baseball field, even if he ran, with his speed would take him around 10 minutes as it best. And he had to be 5 minutes before Mr. Iverson’s class started. _“Fuck.”_

He tried to look out the window of the hall to see if he could find Hunk in the baseball field.  He really was curious to see who was with the big guy. From where he was, he could look at all the fields the school had. Their school had a weird design. All the buildings were together while all the fields were next to each other. Starting from right to left there was the basketball field, then the rugby field, the soccer field, and the last one was -in the middle of nowhere- the baseball field. It didn’t take him long enough to localize Hunk.

He was sitting on the stairs with his two friends--- one was, if he was correct, the little sister of Shiro’s friend Matt, and the other one was the dude that used to follow him around last year. He crossed his arms and leaned over the wall as he kept looking through the window. _Uh, weird._ He started wondering again why that boy had stopped following him around that year. Whatever, it was not like he cared. But who was the one Hunk said that could be a member of the Archery club?

The little girl or the cocky boy? None of them seemed to have the potential if he had to be honest. Keith waited a little bit to see if someone else got near to them. But suddenly, someone from the other side of the soccer field hit with their bat a tiny ball to where Hunk and his friends were. “ _What was that?_ ” wondered Keith. He saw Hunk and Matt’s sister telling the other guy something. After that, the boy picked up the tiny ball and looked at it somehow insecure. Then, the boy threw that tiny ball with all his might across the two fields. The tiny ball landed directly on the hand of the fourth-year girl who had thrown out the ball in the first place.

“ _WOW,_ ” said Keith really impressed. Okay, now that was something. Something he didn’t expect to see. He made the math on his head and those had to be more than 70 meters. In the beginning, he just wanted to peep and see who was the person Hunk wanted to introduce him, but now Keith wanted that boy on the team. “ _I need to tell Shiro now_ ”. Keith started walking fast to Shiro’s office. Who cared about Mr. Iverson class anyways.

 

***

 

“WOW LANCE!” said Hunk in excitement “That was a really really really really really clean shot! You really have a good aim!” Hunk knew his friend had a good aim, but watching it live had been really exciting.

“Yeah that was amazing!” said Pidge joining Hunk in the excitement, maybe Hunk’s plan could work? She looked around searching for Keith, but he was nowhere to be found. “ _Oh,_ ” Pidge thought. Hunk also thought it was a shame that Keith didn’t appear. He had just missed one of the best shots Lance had ever done.

“Oh thanks, guys. You know it’s nothing. But mmm. Can we move from here? We are dragging a lot of attention.” And indeed a lot of people from the baseball club and the soccer club was looking to where they were. Having all those eyes over him made him feel vulnerable and kind of anxious again, but there something different this time. He felt so alive while he threw that tiny ball. He felt low-key impressed that he still got a good aim. One of his favorite things, apart from swimming and reading aviation books, was throwing out stuff with his good aim. He liked to practice aiming everytime he could in video games, laser tag, darts, throwing the basketball ball through the ring, he was good at almost everything that required a good aim.

 

Pidge and Hunk exchanged looks. They both nodded their heads to Lance and started walking away from where they were.

 

Once they reached the classroom again, Lance was -strangely- the one who broke the ice.

 

“So guys, I want to talk about something, do you think you can make me some time after classes? Please?”

 

Pidge looked at Hunk and Hunk looked at her, again, almost immediately. Pidge kinda understood what Hunk’s eyes were telling her _“Keith wasn’t there, so I doubt he saw the shot._ ” They could figure it out later on how to make Lance talk with his parents. What mattered the most now, was to listen to what Lance wanted to say to them.

 

“Mmm. Yes, I guess I’m free today” started Pidge articulating every word the slowest she could, just to see if that was what Hunk wanted her to say. Hunk just nodded his head in approval.

“Yes dude, we can go and grab something to eat,” said Hunk with a more cheer tone in his voice. Pidge just rolled her eyes.

“Okay stop thinking about food!”

“I can’t OKAY!”

 

Lance giggled. Okay. Everything was going to get better.

 

***

 

“SHIRO!” Keith entered Shiro’s office room slamming the door. Of course, that wasn’t just exclusively Shiro’s office, so the other two professors who were there taking their lunches looked at Keith with mad faces.

“Woah! Keith! What’s going on?” Shiro was stupefied. What was Keith doing at his office? After the conversation they had that morning, Shiro could have never imagined Keith going to search for him at his office. Usually, if Keith wanted something from him he would wait until they were at the house or send him a text message. Shiro was scared that something bad happened that forced the younger boy to come to him.

“Shiro, I need you to talk to someone, I think he would be a good member of the Archery club.”

“ _Ok, now this is new_ ” thought Shiro. Usually, Keith never showed interest in any person. What was going on? “Ok, what’s the name?” He didn’t want to lose any minute. He wanted to know right away who was the one who grabbed the child attention.

“Oh--- he is your student, I think? I think he is from class E. His name is Taylor.” Keith was thinking. Was Taylor the name? Yes. It was Taylor.

“Taylor???? I don’t think I have a student with that name. Taylor?” Shiro was trying to remember all the faces of his students. Nope, there wasn’t any Taylor, he was sure.

“What? that can’t be. I swear his friend called him that way all the time”. Keith was really trying hard and he was 99.99% sure that his name was Taylor.

“Ok, ok, relax. Do you remember the friend’s name?” Shiro was trying to get more information that could help him find that ‘ _Taylor_ ’.

“Yes, Hunk, his name is Hunk. It’s a group of 3 people. Hunk, Matt’s sister, and this other dude, Taylor. He’s almost my same height, dark skin, brown hair, blue eyes. He is always laughing about stupid stuff. Oh! It’s the same kiddo that was behind me the whole time last year”.

 

Shiro was dumbfounded “ _Wasn’t that Lance McClain?_ ” He thought. But from where did Keith got that his name was Taylor?

 

“Ok, what did he do again for you to be so interested in recruiting him?”

“Don’t tell him, but he really, really really has a good aim, all across from the soccer field and the baseball field, he threw a tiny ball, even smaller than the baseball ones to the hands of another player. You need to interview him today. Now.”

“Okay calm down Keith. I’ll talk a little with him after classes to see if he is interested in the club.”

 

Keith wasn’t really convinced by that answer Shiro gave him. But it was all that he had.

 

“Ok, but don’t tell him I told you.”

“Hahaha ok ok, is this child your friend?” Shiro was curious about it. Keith finally making a friend. That was his dream. Did the conversation they had somewhat work?

“What? NO! You told me to seek for members and if we are going to have someone I’d rather have someone good at the team. Remember Quality over quantity.”

“Ok. Ok. calm down, Keith. Next class, it’s with him, so I’ll tell him there. Now you, go to class, I don’t want Mr. Iverson to nag at me again.”

“Jeez Shiro, yes I never come here and now you are kicking me out. Ok, I’m leaving, but talk to him”.

 

Shiro smiled as soon as Keith left the room. It might not mean a lot to other people, but this little insignificant detail meant a lot of progress on Keith’s side. “ _Ok, so Lance, right?_ ” But for real, from where did Keith got that his name was Taylor?

 

***

 

The class of Teacher Shirogane was Lance’s favorite class. He remembered how much he used to hate physics in middle school. But ever since the first year, Shirogane’s classes had been really easy to follow. That’s why Lance’s favorite class was Physics. He really got excited every Physics class. That was his best subject.

 

“Ok, remember to do exercise from page 559 to page 563 to practice for the next mid-term. That would be all for today.” Shiro said while looking at his students and his gaze fell on a specific student. He almost forgot about it. “Oh right, Lance would you mind coming out for a second?”

 

Hunk, Lance and Pidge looked at each other, confused. What was going on? Why did teacher Shirogane want to talk to Lance?  “ _Unless---_ ” Hunk thought as Lance left the class to see what his favorite teacher wanted to say to him.

 

“Hey, Lance. Ok, first I need to make sure of something. Do you have another name?” Shiro was trying to see if Taylor was his middle name, even though in the register he just appeared as Lance McClain. 

“Uh? Nope, I mean, usually, Latino American families child tend to have two names, right? But my parents tried to be different and just put one name for me and my siblings. Kinda boring I know, I’d love to have a middle name.”

“Oh ok. Thanks for explaining” Shiro was even more confused. From where did Keith got that the name of this child was Taylor? “Ok, second, the reason why I called you out here. A member of the club I’m supervising talked to me about you. You know, the Archery club. And they think you’d be a fitting member of the team. We have few members right now, and it would be super cool if you join it. You don’t need to give me an answer right now. Give it some thought okay? After class we can discuss it, what do you think?”

“I mean that would be cool but---” Lance was ready to decline Shiro’s offer.

“No, I won’t listen to your answer till you give it a thought. I checked your curriculum and you are not a member of any club. I can kinda figure out why. It’s a shame we don’t have a swimming club here. But hey, if you have more talents you need to exploit them. You can drop to my office at 3:30 pm, ok?”

“Oh--- okay, I guess I can make some time after classes”

“Okay, we would talk about it then, but really give it a thought! They said you got the talent, and believe me, they have a good eye for this kind of stuff. I’ll see you there, Lance!”

 

Okaaaaaaaay, now that had been out of nowhere. Lance had already made up his mind of not belonging to any club, to be able to focus on his studies. But now, teacher Shirogane had offered him to be part of the Archery club. He didn’t know anything about Archery. And now he had to stay after school--- wait a second. “ _FUCK. I WAS GOING TO TALK TO HUNK AND PIDGE_ ”.

 

As he entered the classroom, all the eyes were on him, but he wasn’t really paying attention. He sat down on his desk and waited for Hunk and Pidge to ask him all the questions.

 

“What did he said? Lance?”

“Did you do something when we were not here?”

“Guys. You won’t believe this, but teacher Shirogane wants me to be part of the Archery club. Isn’t that crazy?”

 

Hunk and Pidge gasped at the same time as they looked at each other. They had exchanged glances the whole day, but this time, this was the only one time, that they finally looked at each other because they felt things were actually going out well.

 

“WHAT?” Pidge said first, “did he really really say that?” She was skeptical. She wanted to know everything.

“Yes, yes,” said Lance with a shaky voice and turning his head to see his friends. “He said that a member of the club saw my shot and wanted me on the team. They think I have talent.” Lance really couldn’t believe what just happened. Usually, the only people who praised him were his family and Hunk and Pidge. The rest made fun of himself. But today it was Shirogane and someone else who saw his worth. He really couldn’t believe it.

 

 _“That means that Hunk’s plan really worked for real._ ” thought Pidge after hearing Lance’s explanation. Hunk was now looking at her with a big smile of satisfaction. “ _That means… that Keith really saw that shot?”_

 

“But, what do you think? Do you want to join the Archery club?” Said Pidge thinking she knew the answer Lance would give her.

“Well, I don’t really know, I mean. It wasn’t really in my plans to join any club because I wanted to focus only in my studies so I could be elected as class president--- but looking at how things are now, I think I maybe should at least listen to what Shirogane wants to say to me… I guess?”

 

Ok, so that was new. Not even the Lance of last year nor two-weeks-ago-Lance would have given that answer.

 

“Oh,” said Pidge not knowing what else to say.

“Go for it, Lance!!!”

“But if I go, that means I won’t be able to go out with you today.” Lance still felt kinda guilty for forgetting the plans he had already made with them. And he really wanted to talk to them.

“Don’t worry about that,” said Pidge touching his shoulder. “You can talk to us tomorrow or the weekend.”

“Yeah man, this is more important, you can talk to us any other day. Go for it, take that place!”

  
“Ok, yeah, I think I should go.” Lance made his decision and stopped feeling so insecure thanks to the help of his friends. He really owed them a lot. If he had already decided he wanted to feel good, he had to start with something. Maybe the Archery club was what he needed. Lance looked out the window as he tried to get positive thoughts. Then he realized something and his face showed some panic. Wasn’t Keith member of the Archery club? He still was a member, right? “ _OH NO_ ” Lance felt super shy now. “ _I bet he knows about the stupid incident. No way. He is definitely going to laugh about me._ ” He buried his head on the Physics book he had on his desk to hide his face. “ _This is going to be so awkward_.  _Maybe I_ should _just--- No, no Lance you are going. You had made your decision already, right? Ok. We can do this. Everything is going to get better"_

 

 ***

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On my second year of High School, there were like 10 classes only of second-years. I was in class E, of "excellence" lmao. Also, autocorrect says Lance's name is a typo and that I should write Haul. Haul is his new name, guys. 
> 
> Next chapter Keith and Lance will finally have interaction! :)
> 
> Thanks for reading this<3<3


	3. Just Aim and Shoot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance still feels insecure about the whole Archery thing. But after the talk he had with Shiro and the lucky charm Pidge lent to him, the only thing left to do was to check the real thing by himself. However, being left alone with Keith was never on his plans. 
> 
> Keith couldn't care less if he was left alone on the club with Lance, but there was one thing for sure that bothered him. Why Lance had changed so much?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back. I won't drop this project lmao. I had to do some study before writing this chapter because I know nothing about Archery lmao. It was indeed a bad idea to write about something I don't know much with the short time I have *cries* Lucky me that classes got canceled this week. I want to thank my friend Palm, who literally sacrificed herself to prooferead this (?) I'm sorry Palma T^T lmao and to Mur who was there and made some other corrections too. <3
> 
> If someone who knows about Archery reads this, I'm so sorry LMAO.

 

 

**Nyma (aka sister-in-law), Lil’ P**

 

**Nyma (aka sister-in-law)**

Pidge **(13:30)**

Pidge **(13:30)**

Pidge **(13:30)**

Pidge why didn’t you tell me that Lance has such a good aim! **(14:04)**

And not only that, his shot was PERFECT **(14:04)**

PIDGE LANCE COULD BE A GOOD PITCHER!! **(14:04)**

Rolo has sent me more than 50 messages **(14:15)**

He wants to meet with Lance asap **(14:15)**

Pidge we need Lance in our team **(14:30)**

Do you know if he is a member of any other club? **(14:46)**

When you see these messages please tell him to go to the baseball room. **(14:53)**

Plaxum and Olia just told me that some members of the basketball team are searching for him too **(15:08)**

Pidge? **(15:15)**

 

***

 

“Ok guys, I have to be honest with you. I’m already regretting what I said earlier. I’m kinda scared for going to teacher Shirogane’s office right now. I mean, shooting a ball is one thing, but Archery? That implies a bow and an arrow, right? I have never touched a bow nor an arrow. I have never even seen a competition? a game? of archery! I don’t even know what it is!? IS IT A SPORT? I DON’T KNOW WHAT ARCHERY REALLY IS!”

“Archery is the practice or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows. The word comes from the Latin _arcus_ meaning ‘bow’ or ‘arch’. That’s what the official site of World Archery says” said Pidge looking at her phone. She had a lot of notifications from Nyma but decided to close them all. She had already decided to follow Hunk’s plan because it was apparently working out somehow, and if Hunk said that Lance needed to be on the Archery club, then she would make everything she could so Lance could join the Archery club.

“See! I didn’t even know there was a website of archery!” Lance was already panicking. Their last class had just finished and they were now talking in the empty classroom. Pidge rolled her eyes. Of course, there would be an Archery site, every sport had a website. But before she could say anything Hunk interrupted her.

“Wikipedia defines it as the art, sport, practice or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows,” said the boy following her example.

“Okay, that was actually really educational, but that doesn’t change the fact that I have _never_ , like for real, _never_ , touched an arrow”.

“Jeez Lance, chill down,” said the girl turning her data off so she could stop receiving messages “Shirogane just want to talk to you, It’s gonna be okay, he is super nice and one of the most comprehensive teachers here, so. Also, you were the one who kept on going about how much you wanted to join a club last semester.”

“Yeah man! Where’s all the confidence you had two hours ago? I believe you can do this!”

“Huh.” Lance understood what his friends were trying to say, but somehow whenever Hunk and Pidge tried to cheer him up he ended up feeling even worse. “Also I still feel guilty for canceling our plans for today. I really wanted to talk to you as soon as possible…”

“My buddy, don’t feel bad about it, you know, things are going to start getting better and this is the proof of it. I mean, think about it, it really is a good opportunity for you, you didn’t even have to submit an application to be considered, that’s how talented you are! Don’t miss this chance” Hunk said as he put his left arm around Lance’s neck.

“Well, but for real, I don’t know if I’d join the club even if I go to talk to him...” said Lance looking down. By the tone of his voice, both his friends noticed that the conversation was getting serious.

“Why not?” Pidge had now decided to turn her phone off completely for her own mental health. Even if she had all her data off, Nyma could still reach her by making a phone call, and she could be really scary if it was something baseball related.

“It’s just that… I don’t really want to disappoint anybody. Like ever again. When people start expecting stuff from you is easier to disappoint them… and teacher Shirogane is super cool and smart, and he would start expecting things from me, he is my hero you know, and what about the other members of the Archery club? I can let them down easily too. What if they all regret offering me a place there?”

“Lance” Pidge reached something from her backpack and took Lance’s left hand. She put on it what she just grabbed as she closed his fist “this is my lucky charm, it might be something silly, but Matt gave it to me when I made the entrance exam. That day I was about to throw up you know, but this made me feel a little bit more relaxed. Sometimes, I still wear it, of course, I put it on my wrist for obvious reasons, when I have an important exam, but now I give it to you, it means a lot, so take care of it till you need it.”

 

Lance opened his hand to see a purplish pink hair tie with a bow that had some white cat’s paws printed all over it.

 

“Pidge, this is…”

“Don’t say anything, I know. And the answer is no. I don’t need it. I think. I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it. Yet. BUT, with this I promise you, you’d start feeling less nervous, believe in me. Whenever you feel alone, or nervous or anxious, you’d still have a part of me with you.”

“Wow Pidge, this must be, like, the nicest thing you have ever done for Lance; that’s really a pretty hair tie. You should wear this kind of stuff again.”

“Hunk, this is not about me, and we already talk about this.” Pidge was annoyed by the fact that Hunk wanted to bring back her old style to the conversation, a topic that made her feel uncomfortable, so she just cut him off. She turned her head again to her other friend “See Lance, you don’t have anything to lose if you go, as you said, you are not really sure if you want to be on the Archery club, but if you go and decide to join the club, that would mean you win something, right?” Pidge let out a sincere smile from her lips.

 

And Pidge was right. He really didn’t have anything to lose, at all. He was given a rare opportunity. Joining a sports club was not really easy because of the competitive level 'Galaxy Garrison High School' had around the country. If he joined the team that would mean it was his win. Okay. That settled it all. He was already determined to at least go to talk to his favorite teacher. He was ready.

 

“Okay, yes. I’ll go now.” said Lance getting up from his desk and picking up his stuff, “I think… maybe we could talk tomorrow for real, please? I still need to talk to you guys”.

“Deal. Just tell us the hour and the place and we’d be there”.

“You can do this, my dude! I’d call you at night to see how it went, ok? And no matter what happens, tomorrow I’ll bring some garlic knots and a lot of pizza!”

“Oh God Hunk, what the fuck, why all that food!”

“It's never enough food Pidge, especially when we talking about pizza. You know I could eat one pizza myself!”

“Ok, thanks guys, I’m really lucky to have you,” said Lance as he left out a little giggle watching his two friends quarrel  “Ok, then I guess this is it, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Take care, dude, and good luck.”

“See you tomorrow”

 

Pidge and Hunk saw Lance’s back, and they both smile at each other. _The plan was really working, huh_. Was what Pidge thought. Then she realized something and had the urge to scream it to Lance.

 

“Oh and Lance!” with this, Lance turned his head back and saw his two best friends sitting down there on their respective desks “Don’t lose it!”

 

Lance smiled, as he turned his back again. He opened his fist and put that little hair tie on his left wrist. Then he lifted his left arm with the fist closed. He would never lose his lucky charm.

 

***

 

“Ok Hunk, so Nyma sent me more than 10 messages, baseball club wants him”

“Oh God, that’s a lot of texts coming from Nyma.”

“I know, and not only that, apparently basketball team also wants him”

“What? Why? I mean I could understand baseball, because yeah, pitchers, but basketball?”

 

Hunk and Pidge were now sat again on the same bench they were the afternoon before, this time waiting for Matt to appear on his car, Pidge had called him earlier through Hunk’s phone because she wouldn’t dare to turn her phone on again. She could already imagine the tons of notifications she must have from Nyma.

 

“I mean I really don’t understand why you insist why the Archery club? Wouldn’t it make more sense if he just joins the baseball club? And well, even though what I’m about to say would sound like I’m contradicting myself, apparently Lance is using this technique called ‘Instinctive shooting’, in which with the right training and after practicing a lot, the person doesn’t think about aiming when they throw a ball or shoot a basket. So, maybe it’s the same principle for every sport where you have to shoot? I’m not sure. But yeah, many seniors want him on their teams, that’s what I know, maybe they saw something in him, I guess.”

“Wow, that’s cool, and thanks for the explanation. But you know what? I want him to stay at the Archery club. I don’t know about all these kind of technicisms or the abilities required for some to practice certain sports, in this case, Archery, but I really feel that Keith could be the person Lance needs”

“Yeah, because Lance needs a moody teenager in his life so he can be moody too. I really still don’t understand why you are so convinced that Keith can be of help. Like, I kinda remember Lance following him around last year? and at the beginning of this year too? But then the _‘mistake’_ appeared in our lives and… yeah, ever since Lance befriended the _‘mistake’,_ he stopped his interactions with Keith, again, not like Keith seemed to care to be honest.

“Are you going to keep calling James names?” Hunk didn’t really like to talk about James, but he felt it wasn’t necessary to call him names. But on the other side, after hearing his name, Pidge pressed her lips with an annoying look on her face.

“Forever”

“Ok” Hunk sighed “It’s just that, you know, I have like this sixth sense as mothers do. Something is telling me that Keith can be a good friend. This is hard to explain, but huh… when I was around James I kinda felt like awkward? Like, something felt off and wrong. I could never explain this to myself because he was nice all the time, but then you know what happened so I stopped feeling bad for feeling awkward around him. But with Keith is different you know, it’s like, I don’t feel any ill intentions coming from him. I feel he is genuine.”

“Huh, I still think he is just a moody teenager.”

“Well, just time would tell us that, but believe me. I don’t really think he could really harm somebody.”

“If you say so,” said Pidge looking around to see if she could spot Matt’s car “but just because I have accepted this plan doesn’t mean I trust in Keith. If he ever does something to Lance I’d make sure he regrets of it.”

“Just give him a chance.”

“Ok, I guess I can do that, but if he does something for real I’m going to---” her sentence was interrupted by the sound of a familiar claxon to Pidge. It was Matt’s car. “He is here!” said the girl jumping from her seat and running to the car.

 

Hunk was behind her, bringing her backpack on one arm and his own backpack on the other arm. Once they were inside the car, Matt looked at both of them. First, Hunk who was now on the back seat, and then his little sister who was next to him.

 

“So?” Matt asked. He didn’t even say hi, which was really rare from him. He had a straight face, looking all serious, he really was impatient to know what had happened.

“It somehow worked, so yeah, you can take us to his house now.”

“Ok” after leaving out a big sigh, Matt felt he could finally breathe again. “So, then, destination: Lance’s house.”

 

***

 

After knocking the door three times, Lance could hear a “ _Come in_ ” from the inside. He opened the door slowly, and poke his head through the door. “Hello?”

“Yes Lance, come in!”

“Hmm, hello, excuse me, Teacher Shirogane.”

“Oh! There’s no need to be so formal! It’s ok if you call me Shiro, I don’t know why all my students are so shy around me even though I said you could call me Shiro since the beginning.”

“Ok, then, Shiro… like that?”

“That’s more like it,” said Shiro with a big smile on his face. “Come in! Sit down, I’m just saving some stuff work-related, this won’t take much time.”

Lance got near Shiro and sat down in the chair that was in front of his desk. In the office there was just him and Shiro, the other teachers were perhaps still in their classrooms or in the staff room. Lance was impressed by the number of medals Shiro had behind him. Not only that, he had a lot of diplomas hanging there too. It was his first time at Shiro’s office, but it was just like he had imagined. Just like Veronica’s bedroom. Shiro noticed where Lance’s gaze was and interrupted his thoughts.

“So Lance, before you give me your reply I’d like to take you to the club first, maybe there won’t be many people since some seniors are down taking the school Health Check-up today. Are you short on time, or?”

“Oh, no, I’m free right now. I can go”.

“Ok, sweet, now, tell me what exactly happened at lunch, would you please?” Shiro said with a big smile which was impossible to deny anything from him.

“Well, it wasn’t a big deal, to be honest. Nyma was on the other side of the soccer field, and then, she batted a ball to us. Rolo was super mad because she interrupted the practice and Nyma is the best batter you know, and then Hunk and Pidge were like “ _throw the ball to her hands!”_ and she had the hands on the position ready to catch the ball with her gloves on and everything and I don’t know I just threw it, like you know I focused all my attention on it, but at the same time I wasn’t really paying attention? It’s something hard to explain, it’s just something I do sometimes, maybe it doesn’t make sense. And after I blinked, I realized the ball was in her hands, I was also surprised so don’t think is like a talent or something, it maybe was just luck”.

“Don’t say it that way, if you have something you are good at, you have to keep practicing it. I doubt this was something related to luck. To be able to shoot a ball that far means you have been practicing for a long time now. I can see why you dragged the attention of the person who told me to recruit you earlier. So, tell me more about you Lance, what do you like to do?”

“Well, I like, you already know this, swimming. I grew up near a beach, so I went every day with my siblings there, it was nice until we moved here when I was like 10. But even then I went every day to the communal pool. I even taught Hunk how to swim!”

“Wow, that’s cool! What else do you consider as your talents?”

“Well, I’m also good a video games? Does that count?”

Shiro left out a small giggle as he reached a picture from his drawer. “Come on, don’t be shy with me, I don’t bite. Think of me as one of your siblings, you know, I actually met Veronica when we were students. She is a year older than I, but I really admired her, she really is a person from another world.”

“RIGHT?!” said Lance with brightening eyes “she is super smart, she just got her master degree, and now she is applying to get her Ph.D. She even got an award for her aircraft design at one important contest in this super popular Academy of Aeronautical Engineering. And, and not only that! She is super nice and funny, and we play a lot together, well, when she has time we play together. Also, she is super good at cooking. She is the best sister in the world for real.”

Shiro smiled when he heard how fondly Lance talked about his sister, so he proceeded to show him the old picture he had in his hands.

“This was us when she was elected as the student council president on her fourth year and I was the vice president,” said Shiro remembering that day “You can have it if you want.”  
“What?” Lance was shocked, he could have never imagined a day where a picture of the two people he admired the most in the world, was in his hands. “For real?”

“Yes, take it. I have never seen someone talking about their siblings so passionately as you just did. Also, don’t worry, I have a copy of this picture saved on my computer somewhere... I just thought you’d like to have a memory of that day of her.”

“Yeah… woah… thank you, Shiro.”

“It’s all good. Now, keep talking to me about you. Tell me who is Lance McClain. What do you want to be when you grow up? Maybe a professional swimmer? A coach?”

“Oh, well, even though I really love swimming, I don’t think I’m suited to be a pro. I’d rather be a pilot.” Said Lance with a lot of determination in his eyes.

“A pilot? Would your parents be able to afford something like that?”

“Well, I have already decided it, so even though I know is going to be hard, I’m willing to work all I can to be able to be a pilot. I have started to study some of the flight manuals and it’s really cool!”

“Isn’t this because of Veronica, is it?”

“Well, at the beginning it was because of Veronica, but as time passed I really found myself enjoying all the books related to it… I mean I don’t really know what’s going to happen in the future. I guess I’d try to figure it out on my own to see if I’m made for this. I’d still work hard to accomplish this dream of mine, but yeah, not everything is written in stone I guess. But erm, yes as a conclusion right now I want to be a pilot.”

Shiro was amazed by the answer Lance was giving, even though the boy was still young and had his doubts about the future, he could give a clean and honest answer of what he wanted to be in the future. A thought crossed his mind fast about how nice it would be if Keith could answer his questions the way Lance was doing it at that moment.

“Wow Lance, you are really mature, not many children know what they want to do with their future. I have every week career counseling sessions for fourth years because they don’t know what to do yet.”

“Well, it’s not like it’s decided so, also I can change my mind, later on, I don’t know. I guess I was really lucky to have the family that I have.” Said the boy while looking at the picture Shiro just gave him.

“Family is indeed important,” said Shiro thinking about Keith. “So, how do you feel about Archery?”

“Huh, well, to be honest, I don’t know anything about Archery…” said Lance with a big blush on his face. The fact that he really didn’t know anything about Archery made him feel even more shy and kinda stupid. “I don’t know if I have to know something about it like there’s a bow and an arrow, and that’s it.”

Shiro laughed out loud because of the honest answer the boy gave to him. “It’s okay you don’t have to be ashamed for not knowing about Archery, if I have to tell you a secret, I don’t know about it much either. I was just assigned to the job because I beg the director to put me in there, so here we are. But don’t tell anybody, this is our secret.”

Lance heard what his teacher said with a lot of attention, and for a moment he felt he was important to be able to hear such a secret.

“Oh, ok. I won’t. My lips are sealed.”

“Cool! Okay, now I’m done.” After saying this, Shiro stood up from his seat and grabbed his jacket. “Come with me, make sure you take your stuff with you.”

“Oh, okay,” said Lance taking his backpack with him while he put the picture inside of it. “ _I can’t lose this”,_ was his final thought after leaving the office.

 

***

 

Shiro did not lie when he said there wouldn’t be many people there, in fact, the room of the Archery club was completely empty. Lance knew his school was big, but he still got impressed by how big that room was, it was almost as big as the gym, and he could notice how well equipped it was. For a second, he thought the room was alone until he heard a sequence of noises.

 

_Woosh. Thunk._

 

A fast arrow landed directly in the middle of the target. Lance was impressed by the speed that arrow went and by how precise that shot had been. He spotted on the other side of the room a familiar figure. It was Keith, who was still in the position he had when he released the arrow.

 

“Pretty amazing, right?” Said Shiro interrupting his thoughts “Not like a pro, but if he keeps practicing he could become one, though I don’t really know if he’d like to be one. But you don’t need to worry, he is kinda a newbie too, so I’m pretty sure he has a long way to go. You can both practice together. Maybe you can even become friends.” Said Shiro as he put a big smile on his face.

“Huh… but I---”

“Ok, I’d introduce you both, KEITH! COME HERE.”

“Erm…” Lance was not ready for that. Even though he did accept he used to follow Keith around last year, the things were now pretty different, and after all the gossips going around the school about him, Keith was the last person he wanted to face. But there they were.

Keith gasped when he noticed Shiro waving at him and the boy next to him “ _Why did he bring him here!?_ ”. Keith started to walk to where they were, and Shiro whispered near Lance’s ear “Don’t be scared of him, I know he doesn’t have a friendly face, but he is actually a good kid, I hope you can become friends with him, Lance.”

 

Lance listened to what Shiro just told him, and for a moment he thought it looked like a request from him. As he came back to the reality, Keith was already in front of them, looking at Shiro with an annoyed look. He knew what Shiro was trying to pull off, but he wouldn’t feel in this game.

 

“Ok, should I introduce yourselves?” said Shiro excited with the thought of Keith making a friend.

“There’s no need,” said Keith cutting Shiro off, “we know each other already, right? It’s been a while, Taylor.”

“Huh? What?” said Lance with a dumbfounded look.

“Hello, Taylor? I’m just greeting you?” Keith started to think that the boy in front of him had, maybe, forgot about him, which could explain on why he stopped following him around, and this thought made him feel a little bit more annoyed. “My name is Keith, don’t you remember me?”

“Wait a second, you are talking to me?”  
“Huh, yes? I don’t see more people here? You are Taylor… Right?”

“What, DUDE WHAT” Lance started laughing really loud, he was somehow sad that Keith didn’t know his name after all this time, but at the same time he found it even funnier that Keith thought his name was Taylor. “Ok, ok, first of all, the name is Lance,” said as he tried to stop laughing. “Second of all, I can’t believe you thought my name was Taylor! That’s really hilarious!”

Shiro also left out a little giggle. Seeing the confused face of Keith who always had a straight face was something he didn’t see everyday. He then remember he had to leave earlier the school that day, he checked the hour and sighed relieved when he noticed he still had 10 minutes left. “Ok guys I have to leave you now, Keith, it would be really helpful if you show Lance around and talk to him about the club activities, you are better suited for that.”

“Ok” said Keith, kind of annoyed. He was embarrassed because of what just happened. How could he forgot the name of someone annoying as Lance?

“And Lance,” said Shiro before leaving the room “You don’t need to give me your answer today, you can drop by my office tomorrow, so please, give it a try, okay?”

“Oh… okay, I can do that” said Lance really nervous. Was Shiro leaving for real? That would mean he would be alone with Keith on that big room and he was not ready for that.

“Ok, cool, so see you later guys!”

Once they were left alone, there was a long pause of awkward silence around them till Lance decided to tease Keith a bit so he could stop feeling so nervous.

“So, you didn’t know my name, huh?”

“I thought that was your name because Hunk used to call you that way as far as I remember,” said Keith annoyed as he start to walk far away from Lance.

“What?! you know Hunk’s name and not mine? That hurts dude I tried to be your friend for like 6 months!” said Lance following him.

“My friend? But you were only following me around trying to pick a fight every time you could?”  
“What? That’s not true! I was trying to be friendly you know!”

“Yeah whatever, why did you stop coming anyways?” Keith was still intrigued and wanted to know the real reason on why Lance stopped coming to his classroom every week.

“Oh, hmm, well, I guess I started to be busy? I made other friends at that time too, and also thought you might have actually wanted to be alone and that maybe I was being an annoyance, so I stopped insisting.”

“Huh, well you were indeed being an annoyance”

“Oh”

“But still, it felt weird with you not around, but if you say you were busy, well, it can’t be helped,” said Keith. Somehow, what Lance told to him kinda hurted. He wasn’t interested in making friends, but he had realized how much of a dick he had been before. He had put his walls up even before getting to know the kid, and it really looked like Lance was telling the truth. He wanted to be his friend and he had just ignored him. _“I should have been more friendly,”_ thought Keith as he drank some water.

“Well, it’s not like I have many friends now,” said Lance looking down wondering if Keith knew about the rumors.

“Huh” Keith couldn’t see what was so bad about not having friends. People could be a big burden, so he really couldn’t understand why Lance was making that face. “Ok, let’s get serious. Why did you decide to come to the Archery club?”

“Well… actually erm, Shiro told me, SHIROGANE, teacher Shirogane, told me that a member of the club wanted me to be recruited, so I am here. Just looking around, to see if I like it.”

“Oh” said Keith unamused, “well that’s cool, it’s not easy to enter a sports club by recommendation, so they must have seen you doing something cool, I guess.”

By the way, Keith reacted, Lance concluded it wasn’t him the one who told Shiro, so who could have been then? Maybe a senior? But he didn’t know any senior apart from Nyma, Rolo and their friends Plaxum and Olia, and they were all in the baseball team, so it didn’t make any sense for him. _“So it wasn’t Keith the one who saw me? But then, who could have been”._

“Huh, where are the other members,” asked the boy with a lot of curiosity.

“Well, as you may have heard from Shiro, the rest of the members are seniors, so they sometimes tend to be really busy. Take today as an example. They are having their Health Check-up and tomorrow they are leaving for this camping thing because it’s their last year and all that stuff, so I don’t think you'd be able to meet them till next week.”

“Oh, ok, I see.”

“So you really don’t know a thing about Archery, eh? Well, I’m kinda a newbie too. But if you practice a lot you can become a good archer. It’s all a matter of practice.”

“Really? A newbie? How long have you been practicing Archery?”

“Huh, I started like two years ago, I think?”

“What! Two years is already a long time ago!”

“Meh, if Shiro recruited you because someone from the club says you got some talent, then with some practice you can become good too.” After these words left his lips, Keith started pulling off his gloves and handed them to Lance. “Put them on.”

“Wait what? I just told you that I don’t know a thing about Archery.”

“Put them on, I’d decide that after you try one time.”

Lance was hesitating by the offer Keith was making, but he didn’t really have an option so he proceeded to put the gloves on.

“Ok, now what.”

“Ok, now you just aim and shoot.”

“What the fuck. I don’t even know how to use that thing you are not going to think I would just aim and shoot.”

“Yes, you will, here.” While saying this, Keith handed to Lance his quiver full of arrows, and his bow. “Ok, now, just aim and shoot.”

“Are you for real, Jesus, ok, I’d just aim and shoot. Just so you know, you are really bad at explaining stuff. Ugh.”

Lance was now holding one arrow with his left hand and the bow with his right hand, and he proceeded to do the famous pose he had seen few times in some movies and video games.

“First of all” Keith was finally trying to explain to him how it was done “Are you left handed or right handed?”

“Huh, well, I’m right-handed.”

“Ok, good, then you are holding the bow on the wrong side.”

“What? But why?”

“In Archery you don’t play depending if you are left or right handed, you play depending on your eyes. Let me explain this. You shoot with your dominant eye, and usually, for an average person, your dominant eye is on the other side of your dominant hand, which means, if you are left-handed then your dominant eye is your right eye, and if you are right handed then your dominant eye is your left eye. You hold the bow on the side of your dominant eye.”

“What if I was left-handed?”

“Then you’d need another bow. But don’t worry, we have the two kinds. I’m ambidextrous, so I like to practice with both eyes, though I enjoy more practicing with my left eye, because that’s actually my dominant eye. Also, there are special exercises to know which one is for real your dominant eye, so make sure to look up for them and be sure which one is yours, ok?”

“Oh, ok.” Lance never imagined that Archery was that complex. Of course, he never thought it would be that easy, but he was starting to hear some terms he never thought that even existed.

“Also, when you shoot the arrow don’t close your eyes,” said Keith remembering of what he saw earlier. “Try to keep your dominant eye open all the time. It’s not necessary you keep your other eye open all the time, actually, you’d need only your dominant eye if you feel it can help you aim better.”

“Ok, I think I got this.” Lance was now again making the position he knew, thinking he was doing the things right this time until Keith interrupted his thoughts.

“Ok, no you don’t got this. You are holding the bow in a wrong way, also you are standing in a wrong way. Let me show you.”

Lance sighed. That was getting more stressful than he thought it would be, so he was ready to give Keith his stuff back and decline the offer. Archery really sounded good, but he wasn’t understanding what Keith was trying to explain, also it wasn’t like Keith was trying to explain it in the best way, he felt Keith was just there ready to judge him. But he got a surprise when Keith didn’t grab the bow either the arrow.

“No, that would take too much time, and you’d probably repeat the same mistakes again, come here. Since you are a beginner you stand up with both your feet parallel to that line in the floor, that line is called ‘shooting line’, one of your foot goes from one side, and the other one goes from the other side. You always have to stand up there to make a shoot.”

“Ok, and now?”

“Hmm, yes like that, now, the more complicated part, let me show you.”

Lance thought that Keith would bring another bow, or would try to explain with easier words and try to simulate with an imaginary bow and arrow, but no. Keith walked directly to him and surrounded him with his arms. Then Keith placed his hands over his, which made Lance startled. “ _WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK_ ” was Lance’s only thought. Why was Keith doing that?! Was Keith trying to tease him?

“Erm, Keith? Is this really necessary?” asked Lance all flustered as his face turned completely red.

“Hmm? No?  But you are really slow and this is taking longer than expected and I want this to be done already, also this is the easiest way to explain, now pay attention.” Keith usually avoided physical contact all he could. Every show of affection made him feel uncomfortable, so he always avoided hugging other people. But this was different because it was Archery. Also, he believed in his words. Making a person to do something is the only way people really learn to do the stuff.

On the other side, Keith could have easily won a prize of the most dense person. He didn’t notice how awkward Lance was feeling in that position, nor had he noticed how close they actually were.

“Ok now, you set the arrow’s nock onto the bow string, yes like that, and there. Ok now, remember to hold the bow this way, yes just like that, if you want to be sure every time, see if your knuckles create a 45-degree angle to the bow grip, and now pull back the string, and prepare your draw, hmm no no no no no, lift your arm it should be at your should height, yes. There you go, you should be ready to shoot.” After these last words, Keith finally released Lance. The blue-eyed boy let out a big sigh. Keith had explained everything while moving his arms, feet, hands, and equipment. Didn’t Keith know about personal space? But he wouldn’t complain about it, what Keith did, even though it had made him feel quite awkward, made him understand better about the posture he should take and the position his arms should have while holding the bow and the arrow.

“Ok, so now I pull the string back I guess.”

“Yes, remember when you pull the string back, it should be touching your nose and your forefinger under your chin. Don’t overthink too much about the aiming, just release the arrow, the most you think of it, you’d get more nervous, just, do it.”

“Ok.” Lance was still feeling kinda insecure about this whole Archery thing, but he was having fun. He then remembered the words Pidge told to him earlier and smiled. “Ok, here goes nothing.”

He pulled the string back following all the prior instructions Keith gave to him before. He took a deep breath holding it, he looked at the target and where he wanted the arrow to fall, and shoot it. After this, he breathed out again as he saw where the arrow landed.

His arrow hit directly a yellow ring near the center, which Lance didn’t know what that meant, so he turned his face fast to see Keith reaction. Keith was of course surprised, that had been a good shot for a newbie like Lance, he knew he was right when he saw the first time the way how Lance aimed.

“That is nine points for you, that was a good shot,” said Keith with almost a straight face.

“Nine points? What’s that?”

“The target there have a lot of colors for a reason, it tells you the distance by diameter your arrow is from the inner ring. Nine points, for this to be your first time, it’s actually pretty amazing. Still just because it hit directly there doesn’t mean you are actually a pro. After releasing the arrow you don’t move at all, you have to follow the arrow. And there a lot of other things you have to be more careful about. But overall, for it to be your first time. It was quite good.”

“Hey Keith.”

“What?”

“That actually felt pretty good you know. I don’t know how to explain this but it was refreshing? empowering? I don’t know. But I want to try it again!” For the first time in a while, being there with the bow and the arrow, made Lance forget all about the problems, about the anxiety he was feeling and all the toxic thought he had been having lately.

“Huh! Right? It feels good. Being here makes you forget about your problems. If you really join the club you’d find that Archery, even though it can be hard and requires a lot of work, it can be kind of fun and addictive. Well, many people find it boring because you don’t do much apart from throwing an arrow to a target, also the lack of people in here makes it less appealing to other people to come or join. When the other members are here, we don’t really talk much, so, yeah, if you are trying to make new friends this might not be your place.”

“Oh, well, maybe that’s what I need. A quiet and empty place sounds good you know.”

“ _What_ ” Keith definitely was not expecting that answer from Lance. He knew that the boy in front of him was loud as fuck, always cheerful and was always surrounded by many people. He felt troubled with that answer because Lance didn’t react the way he expected he would. He remembered that Lance was always trying to pick a fight. This confused Keith a lot and wondered what had happened that made Lance act in a different way. Anyway, that was not his business, so he stopped thinking about it.

“So, make sure to give your reply to Shiro tomorrow whether or not you decide to join the club.”

“Ok.”

“Ok.” Keith looked at Lance out of the corner of his eye and noticed the other boy was looking down the floor really thoughtful, and Keith felt the need to say something. “Hey, look, this is not something I usually say, but it’d be cool if you decide to join you know, there are not many people, and well, I think you have what it takes to practice Archery. So don’t overthink about it too much.”

“Oh, thank you, Keith, that’s really nice from you. If I had, to be honest, I almost didn’t come today, I was really scared, but yeah, I don’t actually regret coming here, I was just thinking of some other stuff. But yeah, I think I already made my mind. You know Archer Lance sounds pretty cool, right?”

And there it was, the Lance Keith remember from the last year, and before Keith could say anything, Lance continued talking.

“You know, I was also scared you would treat me in a different way as you did today because of the rumors.”

“Rumors? Which rumors?”

“What? You don’t know about the rumors? You know, about the thing that happened on the first day of classes? Two weeks ago?” Lance was quite shocked that someone of his year didn’t know about the whole mess he was the protagonist of two weeks ago.

“No??? I don’t go through life listening to gossips other people tell, and it’s not like other people talk to me to tell me about them. To be honest, I don’t like to be involved with other people at all, so I avoid any kind of interaction.”

“Oh, I see. Yea, that makes sense coming from you.”

“You shouldn’t worry about what other people say you know. I think you are old enough to understand that people will always find a way to bring you down.” As he said that, Keith could remember his old self in eighth grade. He frowned a bit as he remembered something he would rather forget forever.

“Huh, I guess you are right.”

“Of course I am, now give me all the equipment back, before we leave we gotta make sure everything is on its place and it’s already late, look” said Keith as he brought his phone out “almost six o’clock.”

“Oh right, I’m sorry. Erm, thanks for the explanation, Keith.”

“It’s ok, give me the gloves first.” As Lance removed the gloves, Keith noticed the hair tail around Lance’s wrist. He stared at it with such an intense look, that Lance noticed right away and tried to cover behind his back.

“This, erm, this is not mine,” said Lance in a clumsy way, really nervous. “But don’t get the wrong idea it’s not from a girl either. I mean it belongs to a girl, but she is only my friend, err, but now is mine, well, not mine, mine, mine, but it’s my lucky charm? You know what, just forget about what I said.” Lance had his face all red and wanted the ground to swallow him up.

On the other side, Keith was really confused that he could only let out an “Okay?” as he wondered what Lance tried to say.

 

Now there was a weird atmosphere around them again. Lance could not articulate any words because he felt extremely dumb after all he had just said. Why would he tried so hard to hide the fact that Pidge gave him that hair tie? He was already used to wear girly stuff because of his sisters. Maybe the fact that Keith didn’t know about what happened the first day of that semester made him feel uneasy. He thought that his life had ended after all the act James put on the first day, but now Keith didn’t know anything about it so it was his chance to do the things right with a person, even if that person was Keith. He wanted to make all the things right and that implied to gain his respect, he really didn’t want to disappoint more people.

 

On the other side, Keith was trying to understand what Lance just said to him. Lucky charm? That was kind of childish, right? Well, he didn’t believe in luck to start with, only hard work and effort. Also, what was the other thing Lance mentioned before? Something related to the first day of classes? He was honest when he said he didn’t like to hear any kind of rumors, but now, he was kind of intrigued to know about it. Maybe it had something to do with the way the tanned guy was acting now? Huh. “ _What had happened that day?_ ”

 

***

 

**Takashi, Adam**

**Takashi**

Adam **(16:15)**

ADAM **(16:15)**

ADAM! **(16:15)**

You won’t believe this but I think Keith is going to finally be able to make a friend. **(16:16)**

He is one of my best students in Physics, so I really hope Keith can learn something from him **(16:17)**

Oh! you know who he is!? **(16:17)**

He’s Veronica’s little brother. His name is Lance. Do you remember how she always talked to us about him? **(16:18)**

But yea it’s him **(16:18)**

Right now I’m on my way home **(16:19)**

Ok, I’m on the car already, so don’t call me in the next 20 minutes because I won’t take your call **(16:20)**

 

**Adam**

Ok, jeez, you don’t need to tell me not to call you **(16:20)**

That’s a mean thing to say to your almost-fiancé **(16:20)**

And now I’m intrigued with this Lance boy, so tell me everything about him at the stupid party **(16:21)**

It could be super nice if Keith makes a friend **(16:21)**

The boy desperately needs one **(16:21)**

Hey, also I’ve been meaning to ask something **(16:22)**

Have you fought with Matt recently? **(16:22)**

 

**Takashi**

Matt? No? **(16:23)**

I don’t think so. **(16:23)**

He sometimes sends me these things called memes, and I forget to reply **(16:24)**

But apart from that nothing **(16:24)**

Why? **(16:24)**

 

**Adam**

Huh… you won’t believe it, but he sent me the strangest message earlier. **(16:25)**

I’d show you later. **(16:25)**

Have a safe drive. **(16:25)**

 

***

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this! I hope to write the next chapter as soon as possible, yay!! ~~


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